If ever you find yourself in a scary place, the one you want by your side is actor Kiara Nicole Pillai. No-nonsense and bold, her Rosabelle – the Beauty to Oliver Mawdsley’s Beast – is almost comically fearless. Faced by a roaring horned creature with a feathery hide, she ignores his belligerence and tells him to get over himself. She teaches him what “proper mardy” means and he learns his lesson.
It is a quality Lady Maloria has not bargained for. Played by Annie Kirkman, supercilious, patronising and generally wicked, she is counting on the little girl’s fear to feed an off-stage sea monster and maintain her hold on the town of Scarbolopolis. In Nick Lane’s witty and rounded adaptation of the Madame LePrince de Beaumont story, a seaside town once known for candy floss and chips now specialises in hunting supplies. Beast tracking is big business.
So much so that Christmas has become a relic of the past. In its place is Scary Beastmas, celebrated by a terrified and pliant population. Fair to say Rosabelle’s dad and nan (Charlie Ryan and Amy Drake) might be disappointed in their plan to open a Christmas shop.
Throw in Maloria’s browbeaten sidekick Baümtruser (Mawdsley showing his range) and three human statues and it is all the more remarkable the whole thing is told by just five actors. And all the more refreshing they do it with such elan.
For all its threat and jeopardy, Paul Robinson’s production is charged with a relentlessly upbeat energy, managing to be funny and scary at the same time. For fear things might get too dark, it borrows a trick from the big commercial shows and laces the performance with pop hits, from Monster by the Automatic to Happy by Pharrell Williams – two songs that encapsulate the show’s emotional range.
Lane’s adaptation sidesteps the story’s metaphor of sexual awakening in favour of a wholesome drama in which goodness saves the day. It means Rosabelle is less beholden to this handsome prince than he is to her. She keeps her independence and the two become just good friends. Maloria, of course, mends her ways just in time for Christmas.
