Well, if you want singing, dancing, colour, special effects, humour, a great story then Shrek The Musical is a place for you and your students. This much-anticipated and feted production is a classic West End rollercoaster, with not a scrap of good taste but this is what adds to the charm.
The story is based on the first film in the Shrek series which itself was based on a tale written by American cartoonist and author William Steig, with some interesting and thoughtful twists. Our ogre hero has to rescue the Princess Fiona in order to save his home from destruction. He is obliged to take along the garrulous Donkey on a challenging adventure that reveals some surprises – about themselves and their identity.
And herein lies the message for us teacher types. As well as looking at adaptations, this play can prompt some interesting discussion points about identity and image. As far as staging is concerned, I particularly liked the beginning which saw both Shrek and Fiona, as seven-year-olds, being kicked out by their parents. This added a surprising touch of pathos. In addition, the princess’s incarceration and her long wait for rescue by her Prince Charming was shown through three Fionas of different ages and this worked well. The songs were fun at the time, but sorry, I can’t name that tune now.
The key players were a revelation following extensive careers in TV drama – Nigel Lindsay played a mean Shrek, Richard Blackwood just about managed to make lovable Donkey his own and Amanda Holden showed a great pair of pins although lost it totally on the last, toe-tapper I’m A Believer on the night we saw it. But it was Nigel Harman who stole the show – on his knees, as the scheming, slimy Lord Farquaad.