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FESTIVE THEATRE FOOD
CHRISTMAS SHOW
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Beauty &The Beast
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Cambridge theatreland is offering a stellar line-up of festive treats for the whole family – here’s a taste of what’s in store
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After the success of their sparklingly witty take on Around the World in 80 Days, Cambridge-based theatre company New International Encounter are back with a brand-new production of Beauty and the Beast, running from 6 to 31 December at Cambridge Junction. Brimming with fairy-tale magic, the story follows the fates of a father and his three daughters, who find themselves suddenly destitute and living in a run-down farmhouse on the edge of a mysterious forest. Deep within lies a decrepit castle with a rather unusual inhabitant, who’s beset by a terrible curse and soon to be discovered by the most daring of the daughters, beginning an altogether beastly love affair… “It’s just a great story,” says director Alex Byrne when asked why they CAMBRIDGE chose Beauty and the Beast. “It’s a love story, but it’s also an adventure JUNCTION story, and I like that the hero is a young woman – a gutsy female 6-31 DEC protagonist – who has to go and save the day and find the solution to the problem. I also like it because it’s about families – it’s about a father and his three daughters. And he has trouble with them; they’re not always easy! “But it’s also a story about austerity – people who were very rich becoming very poor – and it asks, what does it mean to be rich? What does it mean to be beautiful? It interrogates those ideas.” In the fashion they’re known for, New International Encounter are adding a modern edge to a classic favourite, with knowing winks to the adults in the audience together with a liberal sprinkling of magic dust to enthral children. There’s live music, too, courtesy of the instrument-playing cast, while the setting of the production promises to provide a unique, immersive experience for the audience. “Unusually for the Junction, this show will be in ‘traverse’, so there will be seats on two sides of the auditorium, with the action in the middle,” says Alex of the staging. “There are two settings – the castle of the beast, with its ornamental garden which has fallen into ruin, and then there’s the small cottage that the family move to after they go bankrupt in Paris, which will be a beautiful, autumnal clearing, full of autumn leaves and bits of trees hanging down.” Edition was lucky enough to sit in on an early rehearsal for this show and we can promise audience members are in for a treat – it’s hilariously funny, a little bit edgy, and totally unlike any other Christmas show in town; a festive family treat you don’t want to miss. Tickets start at £10. www.junction.co.uk
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Cambridge Edition | December 2016 | 29
11/17/16 10:11 AM