Hex – National Theatre

Merry Christmas from the National Theatre in their extraordinary retelling of Sleeping Beauty’s story in the obscure and utterly brilliantly unusual ‘Hex’ directed by Rufus Norris and based on the book by Tanya Ronder. This piece threw what I know about the story at the wall and dissected everything. What it means to love, who to love and why we make the choices that we do. Paired with stunning composition by Jim Fortune, we are left leaving with the biggest smile mixed with awe asking “How. Did. They. Do. That.”

To begin, a mega shoutout to Neïma Naouri who plays the understudy of ‘Fairy’. I am so glad I got to watch their performance as they brought such sweet naivety and passion to this role, truly a stunning performer to keep us engaged, at the end of our seats thinking ‘There’s no way she’s singing like that’. We watch this little ‘Low Fairy’ question why other fairies choose to stay out of the business of the humans, whether that actually helps anyone and why feeling connection to the people on the ground is such a bad thing? She sings beautifully as she’s finally chosen to make ‘blessing’ (a wish come true). However, the mother of the princess causes such a fuss about not wanting the blessing she gave, Fairy is possessed with anger and throws a Hex on our Princess Rose. We all know what kind of curse was given, it’s a very famous story.

Act 1 is fiery and fast paced as we jump onto to the bits we know and find great humour in this modernised script; the choreography is mesmerising with every fine detail accounted for and performed by actors of the greatest skill (the fantastic Jade Hackett for Choreography). Performing against a set that would make 10-year-old me desperate to use as a playground, fairy lights wrapping against floating ladders and spinster wheels, a beautiful castle swinging mid-air that floats forward, turns to reveal a bed for Rose to await her daring Prince. You can tell so much love and youthful energy has gone into creating this, Katrina Lindsay really let us all experience a show we would have loved to have seen as a kid.

My only drawback that would make me reluctant to give a full 5 is in finishing Act 1 I was unsure where Act 2 was going. The stakes didn’t feel particularly that high and so in every drama that happened I didn’t feel that engaged, which unfortunately left me questioning what the main moral was in the end. I also felt the Prince and Princess’ storyline got quite confusing in Act 2. In Rose waking up, it was always her dream to go travelling and the Prince didn’t like her having lots of male friends? Slightly unusual but the song that came from it was great. I just didn’t feel that attached which is shame because in Act 1, I really wanted them to win and I’m not sure if their arguments were that compromising to their relationship to make a whole act from it. That being said, the true love story of this show is between Fairy and Queenie and for that alone, I would simply recommend everyone looking for a beautifully performed, light-hearted show to watch and watch soon. And if not, go to watch the ensemble pieces because their chemistry is fire and impossible not to enjoy. 

Younger me is definitely glad I’ve seen it and I don’t think I will forget either. It’s too impressive to forget.

Reviewer: Alice Rose

Reviewed 11th December 2022

North West End UK Rating: ★★★★