Hood in the Wood

Published Wednesday 27 September 2006 at 11:05 by Barbara Lewis

Everyone knows the story of Little Red Riding Hood and the big, bad wolf - and yet this atmospheric, psychological retelling, with just the right amount of menace for the seven to 11 year old target audience, maintains suspense to the last.

Noel Greig’s script is true to the version we all grew up with, but more knowing. It stacks up layers of meaning that leave any accompanying adults wondering how much of the significance was there all along.

Little Red Riding Hood is not a lost innocent but, armed with a sharp knife beneath her cloak, has responsibility for what happens both to herself and to her grandmother.

Directed by David Johnston, Gary Lagden depicts Little Hood’s evolution from timorous girl to a bold, young woman, eager to escape the over-fussy confines of home and sufficiently wolfish to survive in the big, bad world.

Lagden also entertains with his portrayal of her house-proud mother, world-weary grandmother and the growling wolf.

He holds the audience spellbound with invaluable help from composer and performer Lewis Gibson, who provides sound effects from the creak of the trees in the wood to the threatening rumbling of the wolf’s ravenous stomach.