By Emily Iannello
Once upon a time stories have never looked so wicked.
Big bad wolfs, ferocious captors and ugly stepsisters all receive a wicked twist in a gutsy one-woman production, The Magic Hour, which Vanessa Bates is bringing to Geelong.
The comedy, described as a “Little Red Riding Hood meets Trainspotting” outing, is a dark, contemporary song-and-storytelling take on the fairy tales of master storytellers, the brothers Grimm.
It’s set in an urban landscape and delivers a new insight to figures such as Red’s granny, Rapunzel’s captor and one of Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters.
Bates, one of Australia’s most original contemporary playwrights, is using the musical talents of Helpmann Award winner Ursula Yovich to deliver the show.
Yovich plays the roles of several sideline female characters, giving them each a fresh spin.
Yovich has dazzled audiences from northern Arnhem Land to New York and London, appeared in TV’s Redfern Nowe and Gods of Wheat Street, as well as the silver screen in Australia and Jindabyne.
Yovich says The Magic Hour focuses on “characters secondary to the fairy tale, rather than the characters that we always hear about”.
“You get a real wonderful insight into these characters,” she says. “They are human and warm and at times a little crazy.”
The show isn’t based on the original gory Grimm’s stories, she says, but a completely new re-telling of the stories.
“You may not even recognise some of the originals,” she says.
“Some of them are quite dark, like the originals, but they still have that real magical element to them.”
“Script-wise, it’s very dense, beautiful and poetic.
“It’s also quite magical that I play six major characters, but within each story there are four or so others that accompany them which I also play.”
The show is not recommended for kids under 14.
“It’s quite dark and it has some language and adult themes but high school students have enjoyed it.”
Yovich’s favourite character to play is Rapunzel’s captor, Hannah.
“Hannah is 80 years old. She’s fiery and there’s a lot of energy, she’s someone that doesn’t quite notice her flaws.”
The Magic Hour starts with a matinee at 11am on Thursday July 17 and an evening show at 7pm at GPAC.
