The tale of the colourfully dressed piper who lures the rats away from an infested town and then takes revenge when the town renege on their promise to pay him is well known and no stranger to theatrical adaptations. Belfast Ensemble’s operatic take on the Pied Piper of Hamelin with
The Musician during Belfast Children’s Festival in 2019 stands out as a good example.
Another new musical version has hit the stage in the form of Heart of Hamelin. Down in Armagh this week, writer/director Pamela Cassells-Totton and composer Jonny McGuinness take audiences back to 1284 with a talented youth cast who sing and act out the tale of local government mismanagement and child kidnapping.
The staging is simple but effective, with good use of widescreen projected backdrops and props that wheel on in swift scene changes that never slow down the storytelling. Pushing some of the sound effects and the piper’s melodies through speakers at the back of the auditorium gives a creepy, other-worldly feel to the emerging nightmare, alongside the long-tailed velvety rat costumes. The ensemble’s collective eyeline is used to steer the audience to focus on areas of stage.
A clever modern epilogue asks if we still find ourselves caught in the snare of the piper … although the contemporary snake oil salesman feels less likely to deliver on his expensive promises than the 1284 rat catcher.
There are strong performances across the talented cast. Eamonn Fleming is a commanding presence as the domineering Mayor, overruling a minority of council colleagues – particularly Elena (Katy Hazard) – who sense that not paying the rat catcher will be a mistake. The council meetings are passionate, and the machine gun dialogue has great rhythm. The townsfolk are suitably weary, then celebratory, then distraught as the rats vanish and an unexpected penalty is paid. Sam Anderson narrates (spoken and sung) aspects of the show playing the old man who can tell a suspiciously good tale!
Musical highlights include Mayor Jacob, wife Miriam (Emma McLean) and wanderlusting daughter Eliza (Sofia Cassells) singing
Three World’s Apart. Hans and Ada (Shea Fox and Sarah Reynolds) are a great pairing, offering warm harmonies and joyful choreography in the first act
Together and then
Nothing Left to Say after the interval. Lame Tomas (Aodhan Fleming) and his mother Adele (Sophie McCullough) are well matched in
The Memory Bench which feeds an earlier loss into the growing sense of doom.
“We need to act now to protect our town and our townspeople.”
Reviewing the performance on the tenth anniversary of the EU Referendum vote, there was more than a hint of Brexit woven through the script. Maybe my strong memories of a long sultry night at the Titanic count centre mean that I’m seeing something that isn’t intentionally there. But lines like “
we’re always stronger when we’re together” echo campaign slogans. And picking out some snippets from an exchange in a fraught council chamber do sum up some people’s views of the referendum and what followed:
“I warned you … no one could have predicted that … I predicted this … we hadn’t signed a contract .. can’t you see this is all of our faults … punishing us to teach us a lesson.”The well-constructed plotting of the central family groups and council meetings, together with Jonny’s McGuinness’s collection of catchy and lamentful tunes, and the confident cast of 36 drawn from the Pamela Cassells School of Performance (now in its 25th year) who make it look almost effortless, all contribute to making Heart of Hamelin a production that achieves high standards.
Heart of Hamelin premiered at Theatre at the Mill back in March, and is being performed in Armagh’s Market Place Theatre until Wednesday 24 June.
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