★★★★☆

A year later than originally planned – after an aborted run in December 2021- this new retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale has finally opened at the Olivier Theatre at the National. Running over Christmas this is clearly their big family production, though audiences expecting a Disney style retelling. This is NOT one for very young children!

With music by Jim Fortune, lyrics by Rufus Norris, and book by Tanya Ronder, this retelling is based on a concept by Katrina Lindsay and Rufus Norris. I was curious about this one and had wanted to see it last year. Although it never had an official opening night, people who saw it did start talking about it, and what they said was not – to be honest – very positive. I’m a firm believer in seeing something myself before passing judgement and so when it was announced again for Christmas 22/23 I was keen to go.

Fairy tales have always been adapted with variations on the originals. In fact we don’t often know what the original version is! Thanks to Disney the ‘sanitised’ versions have become the recognised ones and therefore we have expectations. This version is inspired on an adaptation Waking Beauty by Deidre Strath and the 17th century version by Charles Perrault. Hex does NOT conform to the recognised version of Sleeping Beauty but does that make it a bad production?

Hex undoubtably has some plus points, most clearly the cast. The protagonist of the story is not Sleeping Beauty (Rose in this production). It is Fairy. Fairy – though more goblin like in appearance – is a lonesome fairy, a low fairy (compared to the High Fairies) and struggles with magic. It is she – rather than the traditional Maleficent character – who casts the curse on Rose, but it is not cast out of hatred, but a moment of anger. Usually played by Irish folk singer, Lisa Lambe, we had understudy Neïma Naouri. Her performance was wonderful. From the physicality of a jittery fairy who couldn’t keep still and yet moved with a sense of subservience and confusion, to her incredible singing. Her Act 2 number ‘Above it all’ was a particular highlight for me and was one of my favourite numbers in the show.

Lisa Lambe as Fairy

This retelling introduced ogres to the story and the villain of the piece was Queenie, played by Victoria Hamilton-Barritt. Fresh from her Olivier Award Nominated performance as The Stepmother in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella I was really looking forward to seeing her on stage again. And I wasn’t disappointed. There were definite characterisation elements of the Stepmother in her portrayal of Queenie – most notably a slightly toned down version of her voice. And even as a baby-eating ogre queen we certainly felt some sympathy for her character.

Lisa Lambe (Fairy) and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (Queenie) 

Rose is not as central to the plot as you might imagine and we see a Sleeping Beauty after she is woken – as a mother with her prince (Bert). Played by Rosie Graham she gets to spend a large amount of Act 1 asleep, suspended above the stage. When she is awoken (a funny and clever song called ‘Hello’) and paired with Bert (Michael Elcock) they are a strong match for Hamilton-Barritt’s performance.

Michael Elcock as Bert

But is Hex all show and no substance? They certainly aim to impress with the visuals. It opens with the three High Fairies being lowered from the flys leaving them hanging in mid air (at no point in the show do these three actors (Kate Parr, Olivia Saunders, and Rumi Sutton) every set foot on the stage) with incredible lighting design (Paul Anderson) giving their costumes movement and colour. The set design (Katrina Lindsay) is simple yet clever with levels and the revolve used effectively.

Lisa Lambe (Fairy) with Kate Parr, Olivia Saunders, and Rumi Sutton as the High Fairies

Whilst the book has some witty lines, the whole thing gets more and more surreal as we move through Act 2 (baby eating – or perceived baby eating – is not your normal family entertainment). It does get over the problematic nature of the story and the issue of consent by making Rose a stronger character who slaps Bert when he awakes her with a kiss.

But where Hex falls down is sadly in the music and lyrics. The songs come thick and fast but they are all very similar and very few standout. The lyrics themselves don’t always work. The opening number ‘Nature of the Beast’ seems to rely heavily on the title being repeated over and over again. The exception to this, as previously mentioned, is the clever ‘Hello’. From what I understand this show went through a lot of re-working since Christmas 21 but I don’t feel that it is quite there yet. The concept is interesting and it has potential, but in my view it does need more work.

A five star production – definitely not. However for me the talented cast raised it from three to four stars.

Photos © Johann Person