The Hunchback of Notre-Dame at the Herald Theatre

By SUSAN BUDD

HERALD THEATRE - The enduring success of Victor Hugo's novel in its many guises, from the Charles Laughton 1936 classic movie to the ultimate accolade of Disney animation, lies in its roots as a variant on the myth of Beauty and the Beast.

The Beast is Quasimodo, whose deformed body and twisted features hide his huge capacity for love, while Beauty is embodied in Esmerelda, a lovely gypsy dancer with a fatal attraction for men of every stamp - the monster, the priest and the hot-blooded but cold-hearted warrior.

The unlikely setting for this tale of passions is Notre Dame cathedral, brilliantly evoked in Adrian Bennett's set of towers stacked like building blocks up and down which Quasimodo leaps with awkward grace.

It is the most effective set I have seen in the difficult, inverted-shoebox space of the Herald Theatre, as it raises the cast to the level of most of the audience, giving them more scope for movement on its many levels than the small stage usually allows.

The Theatre Stampede directors, Ben Crowder and Vanessa Chapple, bring the same imaginative flair to their production, providing strong narrative flow for what appears to be unscripted drama and embellishing the tragic tale with quirky wit. The disembodied bare female legs that beckon the philanderer Phoebus as he muses on his pursuit of Esmerelda are one deliciously effective example.

The cast work well individually and as an ensemble. Taungaroa Emile gives a heartbreaking performance as Quasimodo. Bent under the weight of a hump, his face distorted into the lineaments of idiocy and his words barely articulate, he nevertheless reveals nobility of the soul and a wild joy in living.

Beautiful and with a bewitching smile, Shelley Edwards is the perfect foil as Esmerelda, her innocence and vulnerability making her martyrdom all the more shocking.

Kate Bartlett plays the silly aristocrat Fleur de Lys and wise Clopin with intelligence, wit and rare pathos. Irene Malone tugs at the heartstrings as mad Gudule and horrifies as the Judge, encased in billowing, ruched brown silk like a gigantic pupa.

Stephen Butterworth, Brett Stewart and Kyle Watson are strong foils as the men of the piece.