KIDS & FAMILIES

Media Reviews

• Event Name: Hansel and Gretel
  Article: Great wrapup for Seattle Outdoor Theater Festival
  West Seattle Weisenheimer - Jul 15, 2012
  By Weisenheimer

  The 5 p.m. show was Theater Schmeater's production of Hansel and Gretel, directed by Julia Griffin. I missed it Saturday but my Sweetie saw it and...
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  The 5 p.m. show was Theater Schmeater's production of Hansel and Gretel, directed by Julia Griffin. I missed it Saturday but my Sweetie saw it and reported it was good. I caught it today and it lived up to Grimm's reputation of "frightening children for hundreds of years." This production frightened this adult, too; set after the original story, the witch is remodeling, which means two of the characters are incompetent contractors from the "Short and Sweet Building Company." Having survived a home remodel last year, we have sympathy for the witch.
  
  Amelia Meckler was great as the migraine-plagued witch, Jay Irwin a hoot as H&G's mom Betty Knott, and Monica Wulzen and Nathan Pringle (a chip off the old block) played the title characters. The Schmee as usual delivered fun for all ages.
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• Event Name: Hansel and Gretel
  Article: Hansel and Gretl, in the Park
  Drama in the Hood - Jul 10, 2012
  By Sarah Woolfe

  Hansel and Gretl Deliver a Hoot for the Whole Family
  
  The creative team of Capitol Hill’s Theatre Schmeater delivers a wacky and...
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  Hansel and Gretl Deliver a Hoot for the Whole Family
  
  The creative team of Capitol Hill’s Theatre Schmeater delivers a wacky and totally entertaining Hansel and Gretl for the outdoor amphitheater in Seattle’s beloved Volunteer Park. Performing free every weekend through August 5, everyone in your family, whatever your family looks like, will double over in laughter watching these troublesome twins in a story that looks nothing like what the Brothers Grimm had in mind. In this case, that re-imagining is a win-win, for audiences and performers alike.
  
  Director Julia Griffin takes on the wacky text of Sally Gander’s play with a sure hand and a keen eye for physical humor. The Grimm Brothers would roll over in their graves if they knew that the team of Griffin/Gander were determined to take all the horror and violence out of Hansel and Gretl’s hands, but that’s exactly what they’ve done.
  
  With a company of talented and shameless actors, and a style of play so broad that park-strollers were magnetically drawn to the stage from all over the park, Theater Schmeater’s Hansel and Gretl is a rollicking good time. There are characters in this story invented for this panto; a European-style of play with stock characters, Punch-n-Judy-style physical battles, direct connections with the audience, and comedy that includes slapstick, clever choreography, great stage clowning, and pure balderdash. Jay Irwin’s larger-than-life drag characterization of H and G’s mommy is rendered big enough to be the Grand Marshall of a fairy-tale parade, and the keystone-cop antics of characters of Short and her partner Sweet, ably played by actors Kacey Shiflet and Lantz Wagner, were worthy of a nod towards
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