Introduction

Beasts and Beauties features eight European folk tales retold by poet Carol Ann Duffy and adapted for the stage by director Melly Still and co-writer Tim Supple. This section takes us behind the scenes to follow the story of how these ancient tales were turned into contemporary drama, designed to appeal to children and adults alike.

Each story is set in a different time and place – from 18th century Europe to contemporary England. The finished performance used vivid dramatisations full of magic, mayhem, blood and guts. They explore a variety of issues and ideas including incest, infanticide, fear of the ‘Other’, pride and desire. The stories were linked by an innovative musical score, composed and performed by the Norwegian percussionist Terje Isungset.

This production needed versatile actors, able to change roles very quickly, and above all, work as an ensemble. The auditions had to draw out each actor’s ability for concise storytelling and creating a character in a short time.

Melly Still had an even more central role than most directors, combining, as she did, the roles of director, designer, costumier and script-writer. Working with a tight production budget she had to find a setting and costumes for each of the eight stories, that would provide a platform to bring the tales to life. She also needed to meet practical requirements such as allowing time for quick changes between each drama.

As the title suggests, Beasts and Beauties is full of beastly characters mostly animals, but some supernatural. The actors were asked to capture the essence of each animal, and try to imagine how these animals would react in different situations rather than attempt to impersonate the animals themselves.

Peter Reynolds’ production diary traces the story of the production from the first company “meet and greet” to the first performance. The performance sections have exclusive video footage of the excerpts from the finished staging of ‘The Juniper Tree’, ‘Toby and the Wolf’, ‘Girl & the North Wind’, and of course, ‘Beauty & the Beast’.