Anyone who has seen the work of circus companies Ra-Ra Zoo, Nofit State and Cirque du Soleil will know that, for the last 50 years or so, since the advent of ‘cirque contemporain’ or ‘new circus’ which focuses on human skills rather than animal acts, circus has been in search of a narrative.
In my experience, these organisations have generally been unsuccessful. Until now. Theresa Hesketh and Vicki Dela Amedume’s ground-breaking production of The Company of Wolves uses acrobats with extraordinary skills as a metaphor for the wolf pack to brilliant, believable effect.
Hesketh co-directs with Dela Amedume, the latter of whom has created aerial and circus work all over the world and runs Upswing, which exists ‘to bring new artists and experiences to the stage, and beyond that reflect a dynamic and diverse world’. She has certainly succeeded here.
The production is hugely assisted by James Atherton’s terrific sound score. He usually writes the music for the Christmas shows at Stoke, and wrote the score for the New Vic’s co-production with Manchester’s Royal Exchange, Around the World in 80 Days, which toured the UK and went to Broadway. But here he has excelled himself. The production is through-composed, not so much with tunes as with sound, using percussion and drones and tinkly noises (© C. Wallis -not a technical term) to build atmosphere and frankly, terrify the audience. It’s film music, really.
Based on Angela Carter’s short story, Hesketh says in the programme that the script is an edit of Carter’s own radio adaptation and the short story itself. However it was made, what we have now is a startling, ambiguous, ferocious and ultimately erotic retelling of the Red Riding Hood story.
In act one we meet Red, a feisty, moody, rebellious and therefore highly convincing teenager, played by Danielle Bird. We also encounter her mother, a determined Tanya-Loretta Dee desperately trying to keep her daughter safe in the wood on the way to Grandma’s – stay on the path! And we meet Grandma herself, a delightful Lorna Laidlaw, full of terrifying stories. We also come across Dan Parr, Matthias Camilleri, Gabrielle Cook, Callum Donald and Jimmy Wong, whose skills on the poles leave this earthbound mortal breathless. It’s in act two that we meet the Gentleman, a charming Sebastian Charles, and the story heads for its dreadful, bloody conclusion. Except that that’s a surprise too (but no spoilers here).
The Company of Wolves is a story full of magic, and I was enchanted.
By Chris Wallis, Theatre Editor
Main image by Andrew Billington
The Company of Wolves is at the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme until October 12, 2024. For more information, click here.
