Kneehigh’s Hansel & Gretel Visits Everyman

The celebrated theatre company from Cornwall have promised a production that will be a tender, tasty and terrifying re-telling of the classic story, told through lively music, rough poetry, gadgets and gizmos, and with the help of some rather unlucky rabbits.

Re-imagining a fairytale is something Kneehigh have done with huge success before in productions such as Rapunzel and The Red Shoes. They have also entranced audiences throughout the UK with a joyful blend of anarchy and tenderness in adaptations of classics such as The Bacchae, which visited Liverpool’s Playhouse theatre in 2004, and Cymbeline.

Mike Shepherd, the director of Hansel & Gretel and founding father of Kneehigh, said: “We will honour the story rather than subvert; adaptation will come through the creative team. The show will be a celebration of human survival and our ability to find our way home.”

The cast and creative team includes writer Carl Grose, whose previous writing for Kneehigh includes Tristan & Yseult, along with Stu Barker, Giles King and Craig Johnson, who have performed for Kneehigh in a huge number of shows such as Don John, Tristan & Yseult, The Red Shoes, and Cymbeline and Ian Ross, who performed in Brief Encounter for Kneehigh.

Hansel & Gretel arrives to Liverpool on Tuesday 16 March and runs until Saturday 3 April, as part of a national tour.