Into The Woods
Audio described performance: 16th May 2026 (touch tour available – ask box office for details)
Captioned performance: 2nd May 2026 at 2.30pm
Signed performance: 9th May 2026 at 2.30pm
The Sondheim / Lapine take on what happens when fairy tales get confused. Why are the baker and his wife impotent, what is the Prince really like, and would you lend bratty Red Riding Hood a basket? More important, having entered the woods, will anybody live happy ever after?
Jordan Fein directs.
(seen at the afternoon performance on 13th December 2025)
Stephen Sondheim is said to have noted that “a dark exploration of the adult psyche is now performed by sixth grade children everywhere.”
This magnificent revival directed by Jordan Fein is as black as a politician’s soul, as icy as their hearts.
Tom Scutt’s designs combine with Jenny Ogilvie’s movement direction to give the whole piece the look and feel of a razor-sharp woodcut illustrated book of European fairy tales from the 1800s.
Stripped to the absolute minimum, the focus is entirely on the words and music, which sound particularly crisp under Adam Fisher’s design.
It is almost entirely humourless, only the “charming, not sincere” line raising a real laugh. Any others are tense, as the fairytale characters face situations well outside their experiences, each on a sharp individual learning curve.
Michael Gould is our university-don suited guide, ineffectual and mildly surprised at rebellion.
Later, his alter-ego scene with Baker son (Jamie Parker) is moving, a duet of painful honesty about growing up.
Parker – channelling original Baker Chip Zein in look – is protector of wife Katie Brayben, a woman able to look after herself and irresistible to royalty. Their happiness and teamwork, shattering losses and shaky highs flow easily.
On the other side of the village, Jack (Jo Foster) and his exasperated mother (Julie Jupp) allow Milky White (a Cheryl ‘Chuck’ Brown, Max Humphries and Tom Scutt creation) to do a lot of the emotional work.
Foster is an accomplished puppeteer and delivers “Giants In The Sky” with a knowing bewilderment. Jupp is busy trying to imbue wisdom and sense, beautifully judged.
Given most of the strongest music, Kate Fleetwood’s Witch is a Cassandra. Cursed always to speak a truth nobody wants to hear, making choices that most can and will not.
With Bella Brown as Rapunzel, the mother-daughter dynamic is explored in depth, this production highlighting more than most the effect of what happens to a child carrying it through life, and the effect on the mother too.
Both Brown and Chumisa Dornford-May as Cinderella, the two single women in the piece, are blessed with outstanding voices, used to full effect beyond their considerable dramatic skills.
Circumstances alter both their lives and the reaction is fascinating.
Similarly, Gracie McGonigal’s Little Red Riding Hood takes a journey of deprivation. Playing the role as a thoughtful, considered growing adult rather than the usual brat is an inspired take, “I Know Things Now” reflecting personal growth rather than hormonal confusion.
Her Grandmother (Valda Aviks) is involved in a gloriously bloody sequence and later becomes the voice of a perfectly conceived Giantess (Aideen Malone’s lighting working over-time).
Victim of the attack, Oliver Savile as Wolf gives us “Hello, Little Girl” as a Fagin of the forest, with a shockingly clear interest in young girls as more than a food source.
Later, as Cinderella’s Prince his morals remain blurred, egged on by sidekick Rhys Whitfield as Rapunzel’s Prince, the result is exquisite “Agony.”
Bleak, bitter, never pulling a punch, the thrilling tensions build and we are swept along on a tide of intelligent analysis which is a warning to us all that “Children Will Listen,” our most vital work to be ensuring it is to the most considered advice.
For now, the monkey's most considered advice is to see this, and drink deep of its laser etched infinite wisdom.
Standing ovation given.
Stalls E11. 18th December 2025. No problems at all with this seat in this set up, a decent rake, a very good view. As noted, the adjacent seat E10 on the aisle is a fold-up seat with no armrest , though was alright to sit in when I sat there accidentally on arrival. I think that I would try and sit as near to the stage as possible if I went again, though there are parts of the design that probably look great from the back.
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I saw the original west end production and the paired back production at the Menier Chocolate factory. Loved both of them. But this is something else. The entire production is near perfect.
Brilliant cast, fantastic set and lighting but most importantly an amazing sound design, meaning that it was perfectly crisp and every word could be heard and at just the right volume.
Sat in A18 in Gallery 1. Bit of a side view and I thought it was a bit expensive at £75. But because the production was so good it's a petty gripe.
5 stars!
Taljaard
I think if I had to suggest one show on currently that a visitor should go and see, it would be this.
The monkey advises checking performance times on your tickets and that performances are happening as scheduled, before travelling.
| Run Time: | 2 hours 40 minutes including one interval |
| Monday: | 7.30pm |
| Tuesday: | 7.30pm |
| Wednesday: | 7.30pm |
| Thursday: | 2.30pm, 7.30pm |
| Friday: | 7.30pm |
| Saturday: | 2.30pm, 7.30pm |
| Sunday: | X |
Venue Box Office & Current Prices
0333 320 0051Venue box office details and show price charts are available on the Bridge Theatre page.
Ticketpipe
Into the WoodsAddress: 3 Potters Fields Park, London, SE1 2SG
Box Office: 0333 320 0051
More details: Seats to buy or avoid at this venue plus travel information and other details can be found on the Bridge Theatre page
