The Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone is a black box space set in the round. Walking in the set is busy and beautiful and as you wait for the performance of All Star Productions, Into the Woods. The set engages you to be looking around, walking over bark to your seats as one person starts on stage. It’s a remarkable set; ladders reaching up creating dimension and reach. Working in the round is difficult but this set made it slightly more accessible.
The space is perfect for this production. The lighting and set engulf the audience and make it more immersive than expected.
Following the zeitgeist of innovative staging which I first fell in love with in La Strada there is a strong ensemble feel from the off.
Sondheim’s Into the Woods is a classic. Taking the fairytales we know and love so well and putting an unfamiliar couple (The Baker and his Wife) right in the middle of them on their quest to have a baby. The first act shows us a twist on the tales we love; Rapunzel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk. In the second half it flips everything on it’s head by adding real-life elements to the fantastical and perfect worlds we have grown up with.
