Goldfield Productions’ Hansel and Gretel, with music by Guildhall School Professor Matthew Kaner, receives its London premiere

Friday 12 October, 7.30pm, Milton Court Concert Hall

Matthew Kaner music
Simon Armitage poetry
Clive Hicks-Jenkins Direction and Supervising Designer
Caroline Clegg dramaturgy
Jan Zalud table top puppet creation

Goldfield Productions presents the London premiere of Simon Armitage’s new poetic imagining of Hansel & Gretel (A nightmare in eight scenes), on Friday 12 October at Milton Court Concert Hall.

The brand-new touring production of the famous tale is created by a stellar artistic team, with chamber music by Guildhall Professor and composer Matthew Kaner, puppetry and animations designed by acclaimed artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins and narrated by Adey Grummet.

The 60-minute production brings together a variety of art forms to turn the tale into a sinister fable for our times. Hansel and Gretel appear as two heart-rending table-top puppets (made by master woodcarver Jan Zalud), struggling in an unforgiving world of strange wooden forests, desolate villages and a fearsome predator. The alchemy of this artistic interplay is created live on stage and simultaneously projected on to a large screen.

Kaner’s musical ensemble features an unusually dark-hued collection of viola, cello, cor anglais, bass clarinet and horn, and the childhood sounds of toy pianos. One of the most acclaimed and exciting voices of his generation, this is Kaner’s first work for the stage. Hansel and Gretel draws audiences into world of light and shadow, of darkness and deception, in a unique landscape where nothing is quite as it seems.

The production is suitable for adults, teenagers and adventurous children over the age of 12.

Trailer

Watch the trailer for the production: