Bluebeard by Emma Rice, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Broad Street, Birmingham B1 2EP. 11 – 20 April 2024. 4✩✩✩✩ Review: Joanna Jarvis

Photo Credit: Steve Tanner (Image of Tristan Sturrock as Bluebeard)

Bluebeard by Emma Rice, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Broad Street, Birmingham B1 2EP. 11 – 20 April 2024.

4✩✩✩✩ Review: Joanna Jarvis.

“We all make bad bargains.”

Fairy tales often speak of universal truths, stories that resonate across the years. However, they can also be very black and white with few shades of grey. Emma Rice conjured this version of Bluebeard amid anger over the number of women murdered and abused when simply walking home at night. She wanted to ‘breathe life into the women he tried to control’.

Our narrator is Mother Superior of the sisterhood of the three Fs: Fearful, Fucked and Furious, powerfully played by Katy Owen. Confronted by a sad, lost boy, Adam Mirsky, she tells him the tale of Trouble and Lucky and their mother, Treasure. Cherished and sheltered by their father they are let loose on the world at his death. The three women embark on a hedonistic and indulgent round of revelling, bringing them under the gaze of the magician Bluebeard, played with passion by Tristan Sturrock, with his lovely assistant, an agile Mirabelle Gremaud.

Lucky, played by Robyn Sinclair, is soft and sensual, easily beguiled, and eager for passion. Trouble, Stephanie Hockley, is equally passionate but less readily seduced, the harder, older sister. Treasure, Patrycja Kujawske, bathed in grief for her husband, lets go in a wild rush. All three give full reign to their characters, playing music and singing with power.

Throughout, the live music, played by the cast and guided by Stu Barker, enhanced the life and movement in the piece. The costumes, by Viki Mortimer, flowed well with the habits of the sisterhood giving an amusing counterpoint.

However, the first act stretched out this first part of the tale. Bluebeard as a magician is a powerful metaphor but more could have been made of his smoke and mirrors. He cut Lucky in half in a coffin, signalling her fate, but we wanted more tricks. Her seduction and submission into marriage felt too easy. If marriage is what so many girls long for, this could have been given greater articulation.

The second act brought the bloody conclusion, with a clever slow-motion fight to finally overcome the murderous man. In highlighting and giving voice to the women, some of the power of the male antagonist was lost. This was the point of course, women have their own power, but however hard we try society ensures the dominant influence of men. Unfortunately, this makes his charisma as important as that of the women. This tale, powerfully told, felt a little too black and white.

At the end we discovered the significance of the lost boy. It was an emotional and moving finale to a passionate play.

Cast

Blue Beard – Tristan Sturrock

Lost Brother – Adam Mirsky

Lucky – Robyn Sinclair

Lost sister – Mirabelle Gremaud

Treasure – Patrycja Kujawska

Mother Superior – Kary Owen

Sister Susie of the Dulcimer – Stu Barker

Trouble – Stephani Hockley

Creatives

Writer and Director – Emma Rice

Composer – Stu Barker

Set and Costume Design – Viki Mortimer

Sound & Video Design – Simon Baker

Lighting Design – Malcolm Rippeth

Movement Director & Choreographer – Etta Murfitt

Music supervisor & Arranger – Ian Ross

Fight Director – Maisie Carter

Music Director – Stephanie Hockley

Associate Director – Laura Keefe

School for Wise Children Trainee Director – Tom Fox

Costume Supervisor – Lucy Martin

Wigs, Hair & Makeup supervisor – Fay Lumsdale

Props Supervisor – Charlotte Neville