Into the Woods Junior

Young Theatre Royal

Theatre Royal, Winchester

A short preliminary piece - The Library - devised by Kick Start Group, in which children argued the merits of various fairyland characters deftly drew us into Sondheim's musical and its overlapping fairy tales as they became entangled in the woods.

Designer Polly Perry's wonderfully evocative and versatile set provided the perfect backdrop to the action. Lighting and dry ice greatly added to the atmosphere.

This was a crisply directed production that choreographed the action nicely. The songs were performed with a great deal of verve and the production was enlivened by confident and assured performances. A minor quibble was the lack of audibility at times of some of the narrators.

The young cast provided some beautifully judged performances. Sasha Parker (Baker's Wife) drew the eye whenever she was on stage. Alfie Stokes (Jack) had great stage presence and Dan Rodd (Cinderella's Prince) gave a lovely comic performance.

Karen Robson