One of the greatest joys of reading Angela Carter’s feminist fairytale imaginings is the visceral, lush and tactile prose which elevates them from children’s fables to something more palpable and lucid. Expressing this physically must be one of the greatest challenges in translating her work for the stage – a challenge that The Company of Wolves rises to.
The play adapts Carter’s short story of the same name, whilst also borrowing elements from ‘Wolf Alice’ and ‘the Werewolf’, from the collection ‘the Bloody Chamber’, a radical fiction collection penned during the momentum of second-wave feminism. The familiar Red Riding Hood tale is subverted here to explore the transition from innocence to experience, captured by a spirited and dynamic Danielle Bird as Red. She exists in the ‘magic space’ of adolescence, played with a childish charm that matures to defiance by the play’s climax – Red is ‘nobody’s meat’, firmly out of limbo and emerging as a woman.
A particularly striking aspect of the production is the innovative use of foley, or live sound effects, created in ominously lit sound booths by the ‘wolves’ - the audience is encircled by the pack. This approach has a goosebump-inducing effect that captivates the audience, fully immersing them in the forest and bringing the same sensory focus of the original text. In creating a richer sense of atmosphere through sound, the set design is allowed to be skeletal and minimalist, thoughtfully designed to support impressive acrobatic displays by the ‘wolves’. These highly skilled circus performers bring a sense of visual spectacle; in their animalistic styling, the pack perfectly embodies the ‘carnivore incarnate’, moving with a stealthy, primal power.
An electronic and dynamic musical accompaniment composed by James Atherton brings the story away from the removed ‘once-upon-a-time' of fairytales and to a timeless space, fitting for the play’s ever-prominent messages. Underscoring the intense aerial duet of Red and the Wolf Gentleman, the driving rhythm balances both threat and desire, intensifying the audience’s anticipation on the outcome of this union – is straying from the path rewarded or punished?
All in all, the Company of Wolves is a stunning production and a worthy adaptation of its original short story, enrapturing the senses and imaginatively studying timely feminist ideas.
The Company of Wolves finished its run on Saturday 12th October at the New Vic Theatre.
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