Red – Scottish Opera Young Company
In this outstanding new adaptation of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Scottish Opera’s Young Company take us on an epic journey through the archetypal stages of a woman’s life.
As Red, the wonderful Maria Wotherspoon embodies four incarnations of one woman, with references to her splendid red hair throughout. In Act One, she is Little Red Riding Hood, the ingenue. The vengeful wolf is played with a wicked pantomime grin by Luke Francis. There is no sturdy woodcutter to rescue our damsel in distress; from within the wolf’s digestive system, Red discovers that there is magic in her hair, and saves herself and her delightfully surly grandmother (Findlay Peters), beginning to own her power.
In Act Two, as Red Rapunzel, our heroine becomes a mother. She gives birth in a burning tower, flames red lik...