It’s a poignant moment for a new production of Hansel and Gretel – a story not just about a witch and a gingerbread house, but about parents struggling to feed children whose hunger leads them into danger.
Engelbert Humperdink’s score is all pillowy snowdrifts of strings and jewel-coloured delights, but there’s a darker side to the storytelling that gives directors plenty of room to go Grimm, should the mood take them.
Daisy Evans’ staging for Scottish Opera seems unsure whether it wants to stick to the “family fun” it promises, or venture a little deeper into the opera’s dark forest.
On the one hand we get a broadly unsentimental, contemporary setting: no lederhosen or plaits for wild-haired, scruffily dressed siblings who clutch flyers from McDonald’s and Domino’s as they fantasise about dinner; a mother (Nadine Benjamin) who sports a black eye and a heavily pregnant belly, and a father (Phillip Rhodes) who arrives home drunk, crumpling an empty can of beer in his fist.
On the other, we have a stage framed by Christmas trees and stuffed animals, and a Witch (also Benjamin) who’s scariest attribute is her highly flammable candy-cane fantasy of a costume. All of which leads to some lurches of tone and an ending that doesn’t quite manage to reconcile these two competing worlds.
However, energised performances from Kitty Whately as Hansel and Rhian Lois as Gretel – all polished singing and rough-and-tumble action – and some clever details propel it along very enjoyably.
In a nice touch, the siblings carefully replace the absent audience in Glasgow’s Theatre Royal with their stuffed toys; even more effective during the dream pantomime, the angels gently cluster them around the sleeping children, who cannot even huddle for warmth in the age of social distancing.
The Dew Fairy (a sweet-voiced Charlie Drummond) arrives armed with a spray-bottle of sanitiser, and the witch’s house episode is elegantly achieved with minimal props and sets.
Beyond screens at the back of the stage, David Parry’s orchestra lag a bit, dragging singers into a slightly stolid account, but there’s still plenty of depth and zest in Derek Clark’s reduced orchestration.
Streaming at scottishopera.org.uk