"DON’T MESS! is possibly their best show yet and combines elements of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel with Rajkumari Baingan and Pauchkuina from India ... a most satisfactory whole; and the complete performance takes place in an elegant set with terrific projections ..."
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Described by one reviewer as “Their best show yet”, Don’t Mess! comes from two traditional Indian folk tales: Panchkuina, and Rajkumari Baingan, both in circulation long before Snow White and Rose Red, or Sleeping Beauty (to which they are related) entered the European canon.
Deeply absorbing with powerful themes of jealousy and dispossession, sin, punishment, confession and forgiveness, the show is delivered with the unsentimental elegance of Greek tragedy. Balna is a princess born from a magic aubergine. When her mother dies, her father quickly falls in love with the Stepmother from Hell, who duly lives up to expectations by demanding the girl’s heart, lungs and liver on a plate. However, at this point the ancient Hindu gods don’t agree, and step in with spectacular consequences …
Don’t Mess! is the company’s latest international collaboration between British and South Asian artists. Guy Hutchins’ storytelling is interwoven with Chitraleka Bolar’s stunning South Asian dance. Ed Briggs captures every changing mood and fleeting sound on a range of eastern and western instruments. Purvin, artistic director of The Fetch puppet company, has designed haunting, evocative puppet/masks "and an elegant set" (reviwsgate); and Arnim Friess has returned for his fourth Moby Duck show to provide stunning digitally animated projections.
“This show really keeps audiences absorbed,” says Guy Hutchins, artistic director. “When I stepped out into the auditorium after the first schools’ matinee, I noticed all four hundred audience members had forgotten to open their crisps!”
