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BrumHour saw Emma Rice’s Blue Beard at the invite of Birmingham Rep.
By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour
Review: Emma Rice’s Blue Beard
⭐⭐⭐⭐Intoxicating
Written and directed by Emma Rice
A young man (Adam Mirsky) appears at a small convent where the intimidating nuns appear to be trained in martial arts. The Mother Superior (Katy Owen) starts to tell him the story of magician Blue Beard (Tristan Sturrock) and how Blue Beard married Lucky (Robyn Sinclair). Lucky’s mother Treasure (Patrycja Kujawska) and her sister Trouble (Stephanie Hockley) do not approve. The young man has his own story to tell, that of his sister (Mirabelle Gremaud). Soon the stories seem to bleed into each other.
I knew very little of the folktale of Blue Beard which dates from even way before its 1670 version that the internet wants to tell you is one of the earliest. Watching this story made me want to explore more about the folktale than pure research.
The dark themes explored include; misogyny, death, religion, cults and sexual violence. They are told through music, projection, lighting and at times good old-fashioned magic tricks. There are some really dumb jokes that take a special level of audacity to tell. But this is a melting pot of ideas and it lets them bubble up so every second of this production counts for something.
Katy Owen is excellent as our narrator who we discover more about through the show, Robyn Sinclair‘s “customer service” smile through the horrors around here is amazing and really demonstrate those who feel trapped by their own decisions. The majority of the performers here can play instruments Stephanie Hockley‘s piano is charming, but it is Mirabelle Gremaud with the harp that utterly enchanted me. Stunning.
An intoxicating production, Emma Rice’s Blue Beard is at Birmingham Rep until 20th April 2024. Book tickets here: birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/blue-beard.
