Actors’ Theatre launches outdoor season with magic-enhanced tale of 'Beauty and the Beast'
A fresh framework of enchantment casts a spell over a classic French fable of love and illusion.
Actors’ Theatre of Columbus launches its 43rd outdoor summer season with “Beauty and the Beast,” opening May 23 in Schiller Park’s amphitheater.
“What grabbed me first is that it’s very funny,” said artistic director Philip Hickman, who directs the area premiere.
British playwright Lucy Kirkwood and avant-garde director Katie Mitchell devised the 90-minute two-act play, first staged in 2010 in London and suggested for ages 7 and older.
While the play isn’t the beloved musical version “told by a certain mouse,” Hickman said, “Kirkwood’s imagination, inventiveness, use of language and ability to make a plain story poetic is absolutely beautiful.”
A tale of transformation
“At its heart, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is about transformation, about discovering love and falling in love with what we’re afraid of... Kirkwood has created transformative, emotional moments in the fairy tale,” Hickman said.
A pompous fairy narrates the story within a story from his own broader quasi-Victorian reality.
“We learn he’s the fairy who cursed the Beast. That intriguing shift in perspective is a way to look anew at the ideas in this story of enchantment without messing with the fable itself,” Hickman said.
The play incorporates audience interaction, a few songs and many magic tricks or illusions.
“Magic is woven into the show, with appearances, disappearances, object transformations and a fireball reinforcing the transcendent magic of live theater,” he said.
Who narrates the story within the story?
Samuel Partridge narrates as "The Man in Pink."
“He can be sweet as honey and suddenly, in a foul mood. I wouldn’t say he’s sinister, but he’s a fairy with a temper, megalomaniacal elements and emotions not always under his control,” Partridge said.
The evening’s host and a showman much like a Victorian-era stage magician, Pink has been retelling the tale over and over for many years.
“He’s fixated on the story of 'Beauty and the Beast' because it means something to him, and there’s joy in telling it,” Partridge said.
Pink’s long-suffering magician’s assistant is Cecile (Colleen Underwood), a kindhearted fairy.
“He talks down to her and bosses her around. He doesn’t appreciate her until he hits his lowest point, but he loves her and ultimately listens to her,” Partridge said.
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Who’s Beauty?
Ogechi Mgbudem plays Beauty, opposite JT Walker’s Beast.
“It’s hard not to borrow mannerisms from the Disney version, especially how she moves around, but this Beauty is very different in personality. She’s still kind, but very assertive and lets her conflicting feelings show,” Mgbudem said.
Beauty initially feels an instinctive revulsion that makes her deny her growing feelings for “someone who’s an animal,” Mgbudem said.
Beauty bargains with the Beast when she longs to return home to care for her ailing father (Jake Jones) and sister, Lettice (Winnona Maddrey).
“She says she cares for him and if he cares for her, he should let her go... Almost too late, she realizes she loves him, humanizing her character,” Mgbudem said.
“Beauty also isn’t afraid to be deceptive or goad her younger sister into behaving properly... She’s not a bad person, but she knows how to leverage situations,” she said.
What kinds of magic appear?
Partridge said he enjoys performing different illusions onstage.
“Objects appear suddenly, things levitate and there’s some amazing spectacle with explosions. We do magical things to interact with the characters, since the fairies have the ability to stop or freeze time,” he said.
While Pink delights in shocking people and doing tricks, “don’t be fooled; I won’t pull rabbits from hats or saw Cecile in half,” Partridge said.
“Pink makes clear he’s not some parlor magician, but a real fairy... I’ll have real magic at my fingertips,” he said.
Beauty, meanwhile, discovers enchantment early on.
“When she explores the castle, she notices its darkness and wishes it were light. Then the light appears,” Mgbudem said.
While she lacks special powers, Beauty’s behavior can reflect unseen forces.
“The different types of freezing are tricky. Rather than staying still, Beauty might ‘freeze’ while cleaning a table, repeating the same action over and over,” Mgbudem said.
What lessons does the fable teach?
For Mgbudem, the play’s theme is self-acceptance.
“In this retelling, Beauty learns to accept her own feelings and the Beast has to accept who he is as a beast before he can return,” she said.
Partridge, meanwhile, said he enjoys exploring the script’s possibilities
“We’ve gone back to basics. The original fairy tales had darkness in them. Sometimes children need fables to learn the complex and darker aspects of life,” he said.
For Partridge, the deepest theme is transformation.
“It’s about being open to change, appreciating who loves you, letting things go and moving on,” he said.
“We’re excited to do a version that isn’t Disney, melodramatic or super serious,” he said, “but has humor, pantomime and pompous characters who maybe can teach us something about ourselves.”
@mgrossberg1
At a glance
Actors’ Theatre of Columbus presents “Beauty and the Beast” at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays from May 23 through June 16 in Schiller Park’s amphitheater.
Admission is free. Reserved seating with advance online purchase is $25. For more information, call 614-444-6888 or visit theactorstheatre.org.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: A new Beauty is portrayed in Actors' Theatre's 'Beauty and the Beast'
