Pullman's Grimm Tales adapted for interactive staging in Shoreditch

A new interactive stage version of the Grimm Tales, based on Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales for Young and Old, will be staged at Shoreditch Town Hall from 14 March to 24 April 2014.

The production, which is adapted and directed by former Salisbury Playhouse artistic director Philip Wilson, will take place in the darkened basement of the historic building, with audiences taken on an "immersive journey".

"This immersive production will translate the exuberant pace of the stories’ plots into raw action," Wilson said, "just as vividly as Pullman and the Grimm Brothers did in turning spoken fairy tales into the prevailing page-turners of their time."

The Grimm Tales, first published in 1812 by brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, are one of the best-known collections of stories in world literature. They include Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood.

"Familiar stories unfold mere inches from you before abruptly disbanding," according to press material, "leaving you alone to explore the richly enchanted world and discover hidden corners, secret paths and morsels of fragmented stories that force you to forget any reality dwelling outside."

The production is produced by Old Vic Tunnels' Valerie Coward with Cat Botibol and designed by Tom Rogers (Happy Days).

Pullman, best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy, said of the adaptation: "Nowadays we think of these wonderful tales as something from a book, but the great collection of the Brothers Grimm was published only 200 years ago. The tales are much older than that, and they were originally told orally, not written down, so a dramatic production seems like a return to their origin. I'm sure the tales will flourish in this setting, and I greatly look forward to seeing how they come to life."

For further information visit www.grimm-tales.co.uk