Hansel und Gretel

The year is 1943 and Hansel and Gretel are good German children. At least they appear to be. But then who's to say what’s right und wrong? After being abandoned by their parents deep into the woods the children hallucinate with hunger pains and a stranger awaits them with treats...

Short Term Visitor Parking brings you Hansel und Gretel, a dark musical comedy premiering at BATS as part of the Dance Your Socks Off! Festival. The classic story of Hansel and Gretel gets a bold retelling in this exciting production which incorporates song, dance, and a highly theatrical form of storytelling.

The play seeks to examine what the story of Hansel and Gretel means to the world today. After all why do we still, hundreds of years after its creation, tell our kids a story about a cannibalistic witch and two children who burn her alive? In doing so, the issues of power, humanity, and morality are thrown under the microscope.

The characters explore a surreal landscape throughout the performance, all the while singing and dancing their way to extreme exhaustion. Hansel und Gretel boasts a completely original musical score composed by Tane Upjohn Beatson (A Most Outrageous Humbug), contrasting the dark subject matter with rousing musical numbers.

Short Term Visitor Parking was established by director Adam Donald during his time studying in the MTA Directing program at Toi Whakaari & Victoria University. In a world where the economy appears to be spiraling downward and people are becoming increasingly desperate, Donald is interested in examining human desperation at its pinnacle, but does so in a way that is funny, stimulating and engaging .

Short Term Visitor Parking is thrilled to bring this provocative, laugh-out-loud, toe tapping production to the stage.

Starring: Bronwen Pattison, Shane Boulton, Fern Pakamon Karun, Aaron Baker, Melissa Phillips
Directed by Adam Donald
Devised by Short Term Visitor Parking; Produced by Gareth Hobbs

8:30 pm, 9-19th September
BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Terrace
Bookings: (04) 802 4175, $16 Waged / $13 Concession

Event listed by HanselundGretel

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