balletLORENT gives classic fairytale a twist
A North East premiere
Newcastle-based dance company balletLORENT is venturing back into the land of fairytale with a new production due for an autumn premiere in the city.
Hansel & Gretel and the Witch, billed as a fresh take on a classic tale, follows the company’s previous hugely successful forays into this magical territory.
The story is another adaptation by former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy whose words also featured in past productions of Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin and Snow White.
North East actress Gina McKee will provide narration and the creative team includes Murray Gold (music), Mayou Trikerioti (set), Malcom Rippeth (lighting) and Nasir Mazhar (costume).
Actor and comedian Ben Crompton is to be dramaturg, ensuring the narrative flows.
It was in 1996 that award-winning choreographer Liv Lorent first brought her company to Newcastle where it is now based at the John Marley Centre in the West End.
“balletLORENT has been making all its work here in the North East for 30 years,” she says.
“Many buildings across the region, from Middlesbrough to Darlington, Stockton, Sunderland and Wallsend, have hosted premieres, and with pride we continue to make Newcastle our creative and domestic home.”
Of this latest production, she says: “At a time when the world can feel precarious and uncertain, Hansel & Gretel and the Witch is a celebration of resilience, imagination and survival.
“It reminds audiences of all ages that even in dark forests, people can still find one another and share what they have.
“Carol Ann Duffy’s contemporary adaptation offers a different ending, where the witch’s own choices shape her fate, rather than the story ending with her death.”
Said to be suitable for ages five and over, the production features a sugar glass house in the woods, an ‘all you can eat’ merry-go-round, a regenerating witch and a supporting cast including two giant chickens.
On stage almost everything will be handmade, with many props and costume embellishments created by balletLORENT’s group of knitters, Movers and Shakers, under the direction of Nasir Mazhar.
The group, which meets weekly at balletLORENT HQ, has also been busy knitting sweet stuff including jammy dodgers, doughnuts, candy canes, cinnamon buns and chocolate eclairs.
Last but very definitely not least, the show will be performed by Montaine Ponceau, Gavin Coward, Berta Admetlla, Toby Fitzgibbons, Virginia Scudeletti, Natalie MacGillivray, Cato Kendall-Muniesa, Saoirse Cameron-Higgs and Alice Gavigan.
On stage with these professional dancers in Newcastle will be members of balletLORENT’s Youth Academy comprising nimble youngsters aged seven to 12.
Hansel & Gretel and the Witch will premiere at Northern Stage on October 29 and run until November 1, with five performances including a Halloween matinee.
It will then tour nationally in spring 2027 when the company will partner with a local primary school at every venue, some its pupils thereby becoming the young cast who will perform alongside the professionals.
Tickets for the Newcastle run can be booked online now at Northern Stage or you can call the box office on 0191 230 5151.