Blue Beard at HOME
Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor
Emma Rice and her ever-brilliant Wise Children return to HOME with another thrilling world premiere production. Packed with wonder, magic and music, Blue Beard is a beguiling and feminist folk tale exploring curiosity, consent and the power of vengeance.
Written and directed by Emma Rice, Blue Beard is described as one of the “most beguiling and disturbing of tales”. It tells the story of Blue Beard the Magician whose wives just seem to vanish without a trace. He meets his match when his new young bride discovers his dark and murderous secret and summoning all of her fury, she plots alongside all her sisters to end his oppressive reign.
Of the production, Emma Rice told us, “Haunted by the regular and painful chime of murdered woman in the news, I woke one morning with the story knocking powerfully at my dreams. I pulled my copy from the shelves and with some trepidation, unlocked the door of Blue Beard’s castle. What I found hidden in those pages was a story not about dead women but…a story about female friendship, intellect and survival. It is also a story in which, by working together, the aggressor is vanquished. And this is precisely why I want to tell Blue Beard now. In my middle years, I want to join forces with those I love and take down the ones who threaten us. I, for one, have had enough, and for Zara Aleena, Jack Taylor, Bibaa Henry, Nicole Smallman, Daniel Whitworth, Sarah Everard and the thousands and thousands of others who have died at the hands of violent men – Blue Beard is my defiant and hopeful answer.”
Emma Rice and Wise Children have built a sterling reputation for adapting literary works for theatre – Wuthering Heights, Malory Towers and the company’s namesake novel by Angela Carter – have all been huge successes in the company’s repertoire. Now, Rice brings the murderous figure of Blue Beard to the stage – and it could be the company’s best production yet. Don’t miss out when it comes to HOME this February.
