A fairytale of degradation
“Do whatever you want, but don’t degrade yourself”
– extract from Bluebeard’s Wives
Bluebeard’s Wives is theatre in its truest sense. In an explosion of sound, film and dance, SPID reworks the mythical tale of the wife murderer and the woman he tests. Alone in her husband’s castle, this wife makes a surprising sacrifice for her husband’s secrets. Innocence vies with the past in a provocative piece of performance theatre that examines the roles today’s women play and the ways they are commodified.
Following a sell-out run at London’s ICA Theatre in July 2003, Bluebeard’s Wives transferred to C central venue for three weeks at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Written by Helena Thompson
Directed by Rachel Grunwald
Designed by Odelia Lavie
Original music and sound design by Marc Sherer
Film by Dan Wilson
Bluebeard’s Wives was published by Plays International in 2004
Press Quotes on Bluebeard’s Wives:
“Powerful staging, the searing power of Helena Thompson’s haunting script, Rachel Grunwald’s gifted and quirky direction, inspired video work, Faith Hagerty’s literally enchanting performance. A crazed theatrical delight.”
Fringe Report
“This was a simple, if fantastical, love story, but so beautifully written and directed that every member of the audience could leave with a subtly different understanding of the play. Perhaps the descent into madness, the ascent to sanity, or some point in-between. It was certainly no children’s fairytale. Did they all live happily ever after? You’d better hurry if you want to find out.’
Edinburgh Evening News, ****
Further Reviews
Plays International
‘a wickedly inventive one-woman pantomime…Faith Hagerty’s tour de force’
Plays International
Edinburgh Evening News ****
‘Faith Hagerty was quite simply stunning as Sarah. She travelled effortlessly from bantering with herself like a posh Lily Savage, to terror and near-madness, then back again in this hour and fifteen minute long show.
‘Using cleverly timed video projection, she danced and acted with three incarnations of herself and the offstage voice of Shaun Aston as a stone-walling Bluebeard, so seamlessly, that it would have been easy to believe there were four other players behind the scenes.
‘This was a simple, if fantastical, love story, but so beautifully written and directed that every member of the audience could leave with a subtly different understanding of the play. Perhaps the descent into madness, the ascent to sanity, or some point in-between. It was certainly no children’s fairytale.
‘Did they all live happily ever after? You’d better hurry if you want to find out.’
Fringe Report
‘Powerful staging, the searing power of Helena Thompson’s haunting script, Rachel Grunwald’s gifted and quirky direction, inspired video work, Faith Hagerty’s literally enchanting performance. A crazed theatrical delight.’
The Scotsman
’Not your typical fairytale.’
Three Weeks
‘Redefines the use of film on stage …a captivating show.’
British Theatre Guide
’Under the imaginative direction of Rachel Grunwald, and with a production team of no less than 17, this is a very promising production which suggests that S.P.I.D. is a company to follow.’
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