Review: Into the Woods at The Customs House

“WOW…This is the bar by which I will judge every performance from now on.”

Into the Woods by SA Productions, The Customs House, South Shields

By Lauren Powell

I can sum up this performance in one word: WOW! 

When I was asked to review a theatre school production, I managed my expectations. I thought to myself, you can’t expect to be blown away by this. It’s good to be good, but remember you can’t judge it by the same standards as a professional level show – they are a collage. Well, ladies and gentlemen, tonight it was I who was sent to school. My expectations were blasted to smithereens. This is the bar by which I will judge every performance from now on. If these are young people just starting out in their careers we are all in for a treat in the coming years as they take their talent out into the world and show up across stage and screen. Tonight’s performance was sensational.

Into the Woods is a mashup of fairy tales where we see the likes of Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Jack (of beanstalk fame) go into the woods and come out again with their wishes granted. But wishes aren’t all they are cracked up to be when, in Act 2, reality hits and the giant comes a-calling for retribution.

One of the things that really surprised me about this performance was the quality and complexity of the choreography. The dancing was flawless. It was interwoven with the dynamic, mobile scenery, so smoothly it could have been on ice. The vocals too: absolutely phenomenal. My favourite moments were when I could hear the Geordie in the singing – it helped me feel like it was an authentic North-Eastern troupe. adding the regional flair that so many shows lack when they tone down the accents of performers to make something more appealing around the country. I found myself bopping along in my seat and humming bars on my way home. 

Every single person on that stage – from main characters to supporting roles – gave it their all. Of course, I had my favourites. The Witch, played by Jada Langley, blew me away with her physicality – she reminded me so much of Robert Carlisle in Once upon a Time. Absolutely one to watch. I enjoyed the bickering between the baker and his wife, their duets were some of my favourite songs. 

I want to make one small observation here: whilst every single member of the cast who presented as a male character was a phenomenal performer, superb dancer, amazing singer and with buckets of charisma, I often found it hard to buy into them in their roles particularly as sexually aggressive men. The Wolf, played by Dylan Duffy, for example, has a Robin Lord Taylor (The Penguin in Gotham) vibe about him. He was great, but more of a panther than a wolf. 

Another favourite character though was “Milky White”, Jack’s beloved cow (operated by Hayley Hindmarsh and Poppy Keith who played Jack) . Obviously they didn’t have a real cow on stage – she was a puppet – but, my God, that was a lovable assemblage of laundry. I was not expecting them to add puppetry into the mix of an already complex and fast moving show, but it worked well. The Giant (voiced by Iris Heming) was also represented by puppetry – simple but brilliant. I really enjoyed the “great and powerful Oz” vibes!

I wasn’t expecting the score to be live either. When I was waiting for the show to start I think I caught sight of a clarinet and wondered why they might need one as a prop. The music led by director James Robert Hedges, was just another level of brilliance offered by this company. I can’t talk about the sound without acknowledging the elephant in the room: this performance had a lot of issues with their sound desk. Frequently mics weren’t turned on when people were speaking, and sound effects weren’t put over voices at the right time and it really detracted from the delivery of some of the lines. For this reason, I’ve given this review 4.5 stars. Sort out the sound and it would be an easy 5. Hopefully this was just first night fumbles and the rest of the performances will have fewer problems.  

The costuming was great too. Little Red Riding Hood dressed in an Adidas track suit and zipping about on her Heelys was an instant attention grabber! I felt slightly called out by the Ugly Sisters wardrobe because I was watching them thinking how cool they looked. The whole vibe was 90’s chav chic. 

Just to leave you in no doubt, this performance easily matched and possibly surpassed some of the performances I’ve seen in much grander theatres than The Customs House. You have all of the pizazz of a West End show with all of the intimacy and comfort (wider seats) of a cosy modern performance space. If I didn’t already have tickets for something else on Thursday I would seriously consider going again just to make sure this wasn’t a dream.

Into the Woods plays at The Customs House until Thursday 5 June. Tickets are available here.

Lauren Powell is a recovering academic from the North East of England. Currently residing in South Shields with her partner and two malevolent gerbils. Lauren is a short form writer who writes fiction as well as reviews. She has loved the theatre since childhood, and many years ago volunteered back stage with an amateur group, Stage Focus.  From one man readings to musical and beyond, Lauren can not get enough! You can find her on Twitter/X here.