Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Gemma Broderick, Barrie Ryan English, Catherine Rice, Leroy Liburd.

If you go down to the woods today…you might meet a few characters from a classic fairy tale that don’t exactly fit the stereotype and certainly never behaved in such a way before. From a wolf with aspiration issues to a young girl in a red hood that’s far too small and who has changed from the sweet person of memory in a teenager whose concerns are now more to do with the embarrassment that her Karaoke loving mum causes, this re-telling of the story of Little Red Riding Hood at The Actors Studio is guaranteed to be enjoyed by young and old alike.

Red has grown up, she is sophisticated, a straight A student, popular and no longer is trusting of anything said to her by a wolf who struggles to make anybody, except himself, quiver with fright. It is a script that has being dying to be told but really only one that Karen Blick’s mind could seemingly come up with. It is one that is gratifying and at times veers towards the murky humour that traditional fairy tales were envisioned for, not of tales of redemption or to show that goodness wins through but of tales of dire warning and for this in amongst the established fun for children, there is the wonderful undercurrent for the switched on parent and adult attendee.

All four actors give themselves over to the delight of panto and whilst there may be bigger productions in town, The Actors Studio and the company deliver a show that is good natured and well observed. For Gemma Broderick and Barrie Ryan English, the young Red and the wolf, they gave an enthralling performance that was both received gleefully by the young theatre goers but also those who enjoy the fairy tales of old.

Beware of the wolf that hides his true nature, of Red and her teenage angst and of the Grandma who offers a potion instead of sweets and hugs for you have entered the enjoyable world of Little Red Riding Hood and all the fun and laughter that ensues.

Ian D. Hall