Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Pig
JW3
Four stars
There is every reason to believe that JW3 will succeed in their ambition to mount a Jewish Chanukah panto every year. For the first, Nick Cassenbaum’s suitably knockabout script plays delightfully fast and loose with two fairytales imbuing both with a Jewish sensibility that makes this seasonal offering unlike any other on the theatrical landscape.
© Jane Hobson
With a tumbling Bubbah (Tiago Fonseca) and a vegan Wolf (a naturally very funny Lauren Silver) the evening is anchored by Gemma Barnett’s earnest, climate change-campaigning Red and elevated with rising methane gags by Debbie Chazen’s flatulent Dame, a one-woman wind farm exploited by Josh Glanc’s porcine, power-hungry energy magnate.
In the early stages of the show too much time is spent in front of a curtain instead of exploiting the depth of JW3’s stage. But other than that Abigail Anderson’s production is exactly the refuge from real life anxiety that we all need. Enjoy.
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