Angela Carter's grim and Grim-mish fairytale novel, in which an orphaned, teenage girl discovers sex, fear and loathing when taken under the sinister wing of a toy-making uncle, has received a vivid lease of theatrical life.
Not having read Carter's novel I cannot vouch for the faithfulness of Bryony Lavery's adaptation for the Shared Experience company. But it vigorously captures a sense of life as a magical mystery tour, beset by Gothic dangers and the dark stirrings of sex and the unconsciouness.
Lavery's Magic Toyshop fuses sexual, mythic and religious themes, and director Rebecca Gatward skilfully subsumes them within the framework of a production relying on the dynamics of physical theatre. With frozen tableaux and action played out in slow-motion, balletic mime, evocative music and feats of athleticism, the seven dynamic actors stoke up atmospheres of menace and eroticism. Hannah Watkins's teenage Melanie, bravely performing despite a recent back injury, never looks out of place amidst this frenetic, sometimes over melodramatic activity.
Liz Cooke's symbolic set, with door-frame and domestic furniture inventively used, is dominated by the outlines of a ship or an ark. This design suggests the religious and sexual voyage of discovery on which Melanie embarks. Having tasted the tree of knowledge's fruit - by trying on her mother's wedding dress - she's acutely aware of the currents of sexuality and danger swirling around the home of her cruel uncle Philip (villainous Vincenzo Nicoli) and his dumb, frightened wife. Only after the destructive finale of fire and flood can Miss Watkins's endearing but affected Melanie and Damian O'Hare's highly impressive life-saver reach the Garden of Eden. They stand naked there - the world and sex all before them.
The Magic Toyshop
