Rapunzel – Theatre Peckham, London

Writer: Geoff Aymer

Director: Suzann McLean

Theatre Peckham takes its community mission very seriously indeed and does outstanding work with young people in the area. This specially written Christmas entertainment needs to be seen in that context – there are some shaky performances, some sound problems, and some very hit-or-miss lighting, but there are also lots of high-energy, immensely watchable dance routines threaded all the way through this show that demonstrates the talents of the twenty-seven members of the theatre’s Young Company.

They sing well, they dance exceptionally well, and they are a delight. The choreography by Jazz Deer-Olafa identifies the abilities of a large group of children of diverse ages and creates routines that are interesting and dynamic. It’s something of a pity that the set, a stepped hair salon with some strategically located plinths, takes up almost all the stage area leaving the dancers a narrow forestage and some fairly random lighting to strut their stuff in.

The story of Rapunzel has been relocated to a South London hair salon called Barnet Magic. Hairdressing is presented as therapy, fun, self-realisation, and self-expression. It isn’t just a way of making hair look stylish, and it’s for everybody; old, young, female, male. It’s a premise that the show takes quite seriously and it isn’t ever undercut or parodied, which makes the show fundamentally fairly earnest. There are jokes a-plenty, but the hair salon theme is exempt from mockery. The programme gives over the largest programme credit to hair stylist Shamara Roper, for wigs and hair design, and for leading hair styling workshops for the company and the theatre’s family.

The show deserves huge respect for its engagement, for its heart, and for its ambition. The theatrical aspects are less of a triumph. The sound, some performers mic’d, some not, is all over the place and makes the lyrics and the plot-driving narrative hard to grasp, the lighting is random while the set ( designed by Jasmine Araujo) is an impressive piece of carpentry, it is inappropriately dominant, crowding out the dancers, and encumbers the scenes more neutrally located than the Barnet Magic salon.

The comedy routines have vastly more energy than the more poignant moments, which advantages the cast members not tasked with selling the story. The spirit of pantomime is apparent in a couple of cross-dressed ‘Dame’ routines from Marcus Ayton and Montel Douglas, and the same couple has some very funny and quite touching moments as Rapunzel’s boyfriend Dignity and his doting father, encouraging his son to conquer a climbing wall and develop some plot-convenient skills should he ever encounter a tall tower.

It’s an evening of mixed delights, but the good moments are very enjoyable and the company’s engagement is apparent. The production overall, particularly Theatre Peckham’s Young Companies, which are a joy to behold, generates warm and heart-felt applause from a happy audience. And that, after all, is the community that the theatre is trying to engage.

Runs until 24 December 2023