With The Twisted Tale of Hansel and Gretel opening in our Patrick Studio next week, Diane Parkes delves deeper into the weird and wonderful world of METRO BOULOT-DODO’s quirky take on the classic fairy tale!

The story-teller is trying to share the tale of Hansel and Gretel in the way he wants to tell it. But he’s facing a few problems. Gretel is not the submissive girl he describes her to be, Hansel is determined to sing his unscripted song and there’s a duck on stage.

The frustrated story-teller attempts to restore order but Gretel is refusing to toe the line, Hansel is still singing and the duck is not moving.

We are watching a rehearsal for The Twisted Tale of Hansel and Gretel which is performed at Birmingham Hippodrome’s Patrick Studio on April 4-8 and all of this seeming chaos is part of the show.

The production is fully integrated, bringing together the performing skills of actors with learning disabilities and non-disabled actors. A collaboration between the Hippodrome, Open Theatre Company and METRO-BOULOT-DODO touring theatre company, A Twisted Tale of Hansel and Gretel will then tour after its dates in Birmingham.

Much of the story and dialogue have been created with active participation from the actors and so the show has a real stamp of their personalities.

For Vicki Taylor, being on stage is a moment of escape.

“I love acting,” says 30-year-old Vicki of Birmingham. “I’m autistic and I don’t like eye contact but when you are performing you learn different techniques so the audience think you are making eye contact with them but you’re not.

I am used to not being accepted and here I am very accepted. It’s learning to trust people

“One of the strangest things for me in this show is coping with being accepted. I know that may sound weird but I am used to not being accepted and here I am very accepted. It’s learning to trust people which is quite hard when you struggle with trusting people.”

Vicki, who plays the part of the duck, has been acting since she was 14 and has performed in 66 amateur shows with The Twisted Tale of Hansel and Gretel being her first professional production. And being on stage is a release for her.

“I like acting because I like not being me for a bit and not having Vicki worries and not having to deal with all the things I usually have to deal with like ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] and autism and everything else. When I’m acting I can leave all that and be someone completely different.

“I think I can get into character really well and when I’m in character I can perform even when things aren’t going so well in Vicky. I can still be a young child or a mother – or a duck!”

Twenty-four-year-old Luke Greenwood is also relishing his role – playing the children’s father and the chef.

“This has been a great chance to do a professional show,” says Luke of Birmingham. “I’ve been involved with Open Theatre before, doing workshops, and that was how I found out about it.

“The dad and chef are basically the same character and for me the highlight is my song, the chef’s song. I’m a bit of an Elvis fan, I like swing and rock ‘n’ roll and things like that, so we’ve incorporated a lot of that into my song. I do an Elvis jig sort of thing and it’s real showbiz.

“The song wasn’t like that when it started, basically I’ve been able to change it and if someone else was playing the part the song would be very different.”

Taking the part of Hansel, is 24-year-old Rishard Beckett of Coventry.

“I’ve been acting since I was in primary school and I really enjoy it,” he says. “This production has been fun.”

Rishard took a part in the Channel Four police drama No Offence and has his sights set on a role in one of the UK’s leading soap operas.

“My dream is to be on EastEnders and I always tell my mum that’s what I really want – I want to be one of the Mitchells.”

Kimisha Lewis, of Coventry, was keen to be part of a fully integrated theatre project.

“I really enjoy the story of Hansel and Gretel but for me personally I also wanted to be involved because of the nature of the project,” says 25-year-old Kimisha. “I think it’s really important for theatre not to be separated between people with a disability and people who don’t have a registered disability.

“Our rehearsal room hasn’t been split at all and it’s been a very professional environment – just as it has been in every other show I have done. And in terms of creativity in the room it’s a lot more exciting.”

I think it’s really important for theatre not to be separated between people with a disability and people who don’t have a registered disability.

Open Theatre Company director Richard Hayhow has been involved in promoting arts featuring people with disabilities for around 30 years – and sees The Twisted Tale of Hansel and Gretel as a milestone.

“In the past we’ve been making shows on our own but this production is right in the middle of the mainstream – it’s a real collaboration,” he says. “What I hope is that the audience will come and have a great time but also a time which makes them go ‘that was a pretty quirky and amazing show, I’d like to see another one like that’ in the sense of saying ‘this is a kind of theatre I’ve not seen elsewhere and I’d like to see more’.”

Over the time Richard has been working with theatre, huge steps have been taken to increase integration across the industry but he feels there is still a long way to go.

“There have been developments, that’s true, and theatre has become more inclusive of people with physical disabilities but there’s still a lot more work to be done there,” he says. “And then even within that, there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of working with people with learning disabilities.

“We need to make theatre which doesn’t follow the conventional routes. So, for example, the seven people in this cast have determined not just their characters but how the story has unfolded. If we had had seven different people we would have had a very different show. That is one of the things theatre usually misses out on – so you end up with a narrow piece of theatre which has not included the actors in the process of creation.

“It’s not about replacing what exists, it’s about adding on to what exists so that we’ve got a more diverse theatre.”

This process of collaboration with the artists was very much at the core of the production says director Esther Simpson.

“We came with a script but then after every single rehearsal we had to go back and re-work the script with people’s suggestions. It has been a working script. That has been a bit of a challenge but it means the show is very much about these actors.”

The Twisted Tale of Hansel and Gretel is being supported by a workshop programme for more than 900 children from local primary schools being delivered by BecauseWeCanCanCan, an association in partnership with Open Theatre Company and Birmingham Hippodrome to support the professional skills development of artists with learning disabilities.

For Esther, the production is not only promoting integrated theatre – it’s also ensuring the audience enjoys the performance.

I hope the audience has a great time but also if there are parents or children who may be autistic or have Asperger’s that they will look at these guys and be inspired by them

“We want it to be a fantastic family show that entertains them and makes them laugh and makes them want to revisit the story of Hansel and Gretel,” she says. “It’s revisiting the fairy tale but having a twist and questioning some sections of it.

“The second aim has been about showcasing performers who are fantastic professional performers with a learning disability that unfortunately are not on our stages enough. I’m on a little bit of a campaign to make things more equal in all sorts of ways. These things need to be tackled and things need to change.

“I hope the audience has a great time but also if there are parents or children who may be autistic or have Asperger’s that they will look at these guys and be inspired by them – and realise that if you want to be a performer there is no reason why you can’t.”

And for Esther, Hansel and Gretel is just the beginning. After Birmingham Hippodrome, the production tours to Coventry Belgrade Theatre, Malvern Theatres and Walsall’s Forest Arts Centre before looking at future venues. And the team has gained funding for a further three Twisted Tales over the next years.

“I’m really excited that we have four years of funding for this project,” says Esther “Very often you can light a fire but then you can’t keep the fire burning but we can with this.”

This article first appeared in The Birmingham Post and is written by Diane Parkes 

*The Twisted Tale of Hansel and Gretel is performed at the Patrick Studio at Birmingham Hippodrome on April 4-8 with relaxed performances on Friday April 6 at 7pm and Sat April 7 at 11am. For more information see www.birminghamhippodrome.com or contact 0844 338 5000.