Grimms' Sleeping Beauty, directed by Peter Falkenberg for Free Theatre at the Old Queens Theatre
The envelope has been pushed so far by Peter Falkenberg, it's practically a circular. Brothers Grimm? Yeah, right. Kid's production? Yeah, right.
Most of the action takes place around a table among the guests at a birthday party meal and the chaos that goes with a family perilously close to giving dysfunction a bad name.
The fine feast is whipped up by one of Christchurch's leading chefs, Richard Till, and served splendidly by Betsy. Betsy (magnificently created by Marlies Fornasier), suggests through subtle body language, that she'd rather be somewhere else - pulling wings off flies, perhaps, or in a court of law as a hanging judge.
The production bears Falkenberg's trademark deathly slow pacing and repetition, with the super party game, "pass the parcel", getting endless reruns. Marian McCurdy does a great job as the narcoleptic (toss in catatonic as well) rag doll Briar Rose (get it?), and the musicians (Leon Adams and Ryan Reynolds), beguile us with gentle guitar strains.