Cinderella: A Fairytale at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre – review

The Edinburgh Lyceum’s Christmas shows used to be among the most dependable festive treats in Scotland, but they’ve had a decidedly patchy run in recent years. Happily, this year’s offering sees an encouraging return to form, with a joyously fresh take on Cinderella that’s light on the supernatural but full of theatrical magic.

Its title is surely ironic, because you’ll search high and low before you find any fairies in Cinderella: A Fairytale. Instead, in this reimagining, adapted by Sally Cookson and Adam Peck, Ella gets by through her own determination and energy, albeit with a little help from the birds who live near her forest home.

After her father dies, Ella is left living with her grisly stepmother and her ghastly children, with only the birds of the local woods for company. In the forest, she stumbles across the incognito Prince, who’s also ornithologically inclined, and he invites her to the ball. They fall in love and, once he has reunited her with one of her spangly trainers, all ends happily.

There’s no fantastical element here: no fairy godmother, no pumpkin carriage and no magical outfits. But it’s still full of enchantment, not least thanks to Francis O’Connor’s beautiful technicolour designs which give the stage picture a lovely lift as soon as the curtain rises.

The drab sets of the house complement the electric colours of the costumes and, especially, the multicoloured birds that sweep across the stage, brought to life by Matthew Forbes’ puppetry and skilfully operated by the cast. Jon Beale’s original songs are charming and atmospheric, and the rest of the soundtrack contains well-realised riffs on familiar Christmas tunes. Combining it all, Jemma Levick’s direction makes the whole show terrifically light-hearted and energetic, and that hasn’t recently been a given at this address in December.

The cast buy into it completely, too. Olivia Hemmati’s Ella is gutsy and independent, giving the character a girl-power remake that suits this setting very well. Sam Stopford’s endearingly nerdy Prince is a good foil for her, and their body language is beautifully observed as they warm to one another. Nicole Cooper is a gloriously hissable Stepmother, dominating her scenes with vampish presence, but with a tiny touch of cruelty, while her son (a deliciously camp Matthew Forbes) and daughter (Christina Gordon) overact hilariously.

There are a few too many places where it could do with being tightened, such as the scrubbing scene, the overlong elocution lesson, or the dance at the ball, which all take a bit too long. However, it’s an occupational hazard of family shows that striking the balance between the action and the slapstick is almost impossible. What matters more is that this show has heart, and its celebration of love is enough to warm you up on a winter’s night. More next year, please!