Pan’s Labyrinth

Year 12 showcased a captivating Original Devised creative adaptation of Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo Del Toro’s spellbinding adventure-fantasy fable of chance and transformation.

Wrapping their own vision of escapism and oppression around the film’s narrative of a child on the precipice of adulthood with an ailing parent and the ever-present monstrous Captain Vidal, their interpretation honed in on the fantasy of a child amidst the brutality of post-Civil War Spain.

Fuelled by Emma Rice’s production of Blue Beard at Battersea Arts Centre, the ensemble channelled her distinctive style of playful, irreverent and wonder-filled ensemble storytelling, laced with dark undertones to pack a punch in a similarly charged fusion of wit, charm and provocation. Making excellent choices about which narrative threads to focus on, there was some exceptional visual storytelling and playful choreography on display from this skilled cohort including heart-in-the-mouth lifts and spins as they conjured the shifting worlds of the enchanted maze, the aftermath of the Spanish civil war with rebels hidden deep in the woods, and the heartbreaking family drama of pain and loss.