Tale As Old As Time

Urged by director Alastair Hill with promises of pyrotechnics, strobe lighting and spectacle; wondering how on earth a student performance could possibly reignite the rose-tinted memories of the tale, and accompanied by a seasoned musical fanatic whose second home is the West End stalls; Music Theatre Warwick’s production of Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast had a lot to live up to. My apprehension only increased when a heart shaped light was projected onto the closed curtain. However, the orchestra struck up the familiar melody and the audience settled in their seats, comforted by a grim Joseph Henshaw’s narration of the age-old introductory scene, to be followed by entertaining scenes performed in enchanting student designed and crafted sets.

Stewart Clarke truly embodies the repulsive character of Gaston, parading around in a short, blushing red tunic, legs – squeezed into skin tight leggings – spread apart suggestively like a girl outside Smack on Saturday night, yet an ironic testament to Gaston’s testosterone overloaded masculinity. Clarke’s vocalisation is spot on, expertly channelling greasy arrogance into dialogue and song, easily the best vocalist and performance of the night. Stewart’s physical strength, simultaneously lifting two “silly girls” whilst singing, is at once admirable but repellent as his character Gaston tosses Belle around like a rag doll. Stewart Clarke beautifully captures the self-centred, egotistical, bestial nature of Gaston, a subtle reversal of Rupert Hands’ characterisation of the gradually humanising Beast.

Initially a difficult character to relate to (largely due to sound imbalance), Rupert Hands succeeds in gradually making the Beast a sympathetic character. It was endearing to see him fretting before Belle appears in the famous yellow-golden dress and touching when he “let her go”, true testament to his regained humanity. The transition from beast to man was physically visible; the Beast gradually straightens from his hunched, shuffle supported by four limbs to manly poise in time to engage Belle in the ballroom dance accompanied to ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
Both Belle and the Beast had a tendency to rush their lines. However, this worked to great effect at one particular moment. In a lonely scene, the Beast mutters to himself “Act like a gentleman. Act like a gentleman” and then is forced to slow his speech to separate the word “gentleman”, the phrase becoming “Act like a gentle man”, before he rushes away. Fleeting though this scene is, this was the most poignant moment of the play for me, highlighting the theme of the nature of humanity that runs through the story.

The half-human, half-object characters showed great self-discipline, visibly resembling their respective object counterparts. In some cases this was done through costume. Emma Denly teeters round as Mrs Potts in a potentially cumbersome but incredible white and blue patterned teapot dress, complete with spout as the left hand arm sleeve; a round blue teapot lid-bonnet set at a jaunty angle on her head. Praise is unequivocally due to Josh Anderson for keeping Lumiere’s weighty flaming hands upright at all times onstage, religiously rearranging his feet into a plié like a twisted candlestick. A bristle of excitement swept the audience as flirtatious, exuberant and charismatic Lumiere explained “but she’s our guest”, before becoming the centre of spectacle in ‘Be Our Guest’ which deservedly received copious applause. Leaving the performance, my friend – seasoned West End expert – confessed that the energetic and skilfully choreographed group numbers rivalled West End choral songs.

The tech crew pulled out all the stops for this production. Besides the novelty of Lumiere’s flaming hands, I found the flickering torches added to the thrillingly threatening atmosphere of ‘The Mob Song’. I was most apprehensive about how the production would stage the Beast’s transformation effectively. The illusion was initially exposed as a stagehand produced a bright light that shone directly at the audience and swam into view every so often as the Beast transformed under the cover of large quantities of engulfing smoke and haze. Nevertheless, the combination of strobe lighting, smoke and the shadow of the Beast did eventually create a professional, pleasing effect. The smoke streamed into the seating area, making it feel as though the scene was moving towards you as the transformation progressed.

MTW’s Beauty and the Beast was an ambitious project that culminated in a truly enchanting set of performances, demonstrating that magical conceptions of student drama really can come true.