Hansel And Gretel

The anniversary prompted Philip Pullman to put together a collection of 50 of his favourites from more than 200 stories in the original Grimm Tales For Young And Old.

He is not the only writer who wanted to mark the occasion by giving the fairytales a new twist.

Brighton playwright Helen Nelder has written and directed a new stage adaption. For her, the economic hardships some families face today make it particularly relevant.

“It deals with our most basic fears of being abandoned, left lost and alone,” she says as we chat and her young daughter begins to nag for dinner and its moral seemingly begins to come to life.

Nelder has changed the relationship between Hansel and Gretel’s mother and father to match the original oral tale, which is thought to have been inspired by the Great Famine in northern Europe (1315-1317).

“I’ve gone back to the children having their original mother and father but I have done it slightly differently,” she says.

“In today’s economic climate it is quite resonant that there is a lot of poverty. It’s really a joint decision by the parents, after ten years of scratching a living, and famine after famine, that they feel driven to abandon the children in the woods.

“They both regret it and they are both there at the end.”

Nelder is well aware children love darkness in fairytales. But she thought a modern version would not demonise the parents.

“In the context of being incredibly poor and hungry, they have to make a choice that means they will all survive.”

The Brothers Grimm, educated and middle class, gathered stories and folk tales and recorded them in their own style.

Their take on Hansel And Gretel rid the children of their real mother and instead had a fictional stepmother abandon the youngsters in the woods as a result of their over-eating.

The children make their way through the woods and on to the sweet-covered house of a cannibal wicked witch.

Nelder has removed what she calls the Brothers Grimm’s misogynistic streak, but kept the action in Germany and made few other changes to the plot.

A live musical accompaniment will have a northern-European feel. Folk singer Joanna Burke has made new arrangements of the Rottingdean-based Copper Family’s Babes In The Wood. She has also written her own compositions for a production which has been put together on a miniscule budget.

Burke plays the piano, the Klezmer violin and a Norwegian fiddle called a hardanger.

“Their sounds have that underlying dissonance and discord. They are very different from straightforward violins and it really fits the play,” explains the playwright whose last production, Sweet Heart, played Brighton Fringe in 2011.

That story was based on her daughter who was born with brain damage and spent the first weeks of her life in intensive care. She survived and is now happy and bright.

Echoing Wilhelm Grimm’s belief that “the reason for telling fairytales is to awaken the thought and feelings of the heart”, Nelder wanted to create a show her six-year-old daughter could enjoy.

Light and shade

“I wanted to write a play my daughter could come and see. The last play was inspired by her but it was too grown up for her to watch. I picked Hansel And Gretel because it’s so visual and rich.”

She says the house made of sweets makes the play magical for children.

“It has the same appeal as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory in a way, and we try to recreate that magic.

“There is something about children and sweets, but there is also salvation. There is real fear of being so vulnerable, and then there is the resilience of children.

“It is dark, but because it contains them and is resolved in a positive way, children can cope with it.”

The six-strong cast is led by two young actors from the Pauline Quirke Academy in Southwick: Daniel Walford, aged 12, and Francesca Drew, aged 15. The horrible witch, played by Janet Hewlett-Davies, will be tempered by sweets and lots of jokes, says Nelder.

“People should expect light and shade. It’s not a Disney version, not a pantomime version, and it’s great fun.”

• New Venture Theatre, Bedford Place, Brighton, Thursday, December 6, to Sunday, December 9. Starts 7.45pm, matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2.30pm, no show on Friday, tickets £9/£5. Call 01273 746118