Conceiver and Director: Guillaume Pigé
Devised by the company
Theatre Re bring their production Bluebelleto Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre for two nights only, before takingThe Nature of Forgetting toEdinburgh Fringe Festival.Bluebellebegins with a ghost light. A group of ghosts gather and put on a production, telling a hugely theatrical tale.
Bluebelleis somewhat a dark fairytale. A King and Queen long for a child more than anything in the world. The Bluebell Fairy grants them their wish, but it’s not long until an evil witch appears and takes that child away. There follows various twists and turns, moments of love and moments of gut wrenching heartbreak.
The show was a little slow to get going, and it took time to adjust to the unique style of storytelling. It is primarily a physical theatre production, with some dialogue scattered throughout. However it is often difficult to hear the dialogue over the loud live music. When you can see the performers speaking but can’t hear the conversation, it can leave the audience feeling excluded rather than brought into the action.
Despite the sound balance not always being perfect, the music composed by Alex Judd and played live by Judd and Henry Webster sounds incredible. Despite only having two musicians on stage, the score often sounds huge and cinematic like there is a full orchestra on stage. There is a lot of use of loop pedals, but this is embedded into the score seamlessly rather than being too obvious.
Dr Katherine Graham’s lighting design is exceptional, creating a very atmospheric piece with very minimal physical set items. Emma Tompkins, Josephine Tremelling, Guillaume Pigé and Benjamin Adams collaborate to create this simple set, primarily made up of ropes that you’d find in the flies of a theatre. They effectively create a variety of locations. Emma Tompkins’ costume design works brilliantly well – you could well imagine that this company of ghosts have found the costumes in store cupboards in a theatre.
The small company of performers are all delights to watch. They all move beautifully, characterising their roles through their physicality wonderfully. Claudia Marciano and Marshall Stay have a lovely chemistry as The Queen and The King. Marciano in particular breaks your heart as we see the pain that The Queen suffers. Giulia de Fabbro brings to life both the Evil Witch and the King and Queen’s child Bluebelle really well, characterising the two roles perfectly. You almost forget they’re being played by the same performer. Marlie James is great fun as the Bluebell Fairy, adding moments of light amidst an otherwise very dark story.
The future ofBluebelleis currently unclear – at present there are no further plans for this production to be performed. However Theatre Re are touring the UK (and beyond) with other productions and they are well worth a watch if they are performing near you.
Reviewed on 12th June 2025