Opera North, Susan Bullock

This is a darkly compelling version of the Brothers Grimm story of growing up and surviving childhood. In a chilling twist, the witch is also the children’s mother: they have to kill her before she kills them. Hansel and Gretel is perhaps the best-loved of all the operatic fairy tales but, in director Edward Dick’s production, it is also one of the most unsettling.

The action on stage includes hand-held cameras and live video; set against this modern technology is an unending thread of golden melody, including the dizzying excitement of the ‘Witch’s Ride’ and the serene beauty of the children’s ‘Evening Prayer’. The music magically evokes the contrasting worlds of the story, from the daily struggle for survival of an impoverished family, to the world of the forest, both idyllic and full of danger.