Peculius Stage's 'Hood!' is a remarkable a capella-cum-physical theatre interpretation of 'Little Red Riding Hood', infusing the sinister Germanic overtones of The Brothers Grimm and Heinrich Hoffmann with dance, movement and song to terrific and often terrifying effect. 'Hood!' opens with a wordless, ten-minute tableau of a godless forest: woodland beasts shrill, shriek and scuttle amongst the brambles and branches, and sometimes creep up on audience members (I had one creature almost permanently behind my right shoulder, which was most unnerving). As the programme says, the influence of Tim Burton is palpable, though the forest is closer in hue to Lars von Trier's 'Antichrist' and the choreography of the strange, Bacchanlian half-human beasts echo Matthew Barney's work with satyrs.The whole piece is orchestrated beautifully and the performances are strong throughout, though the 'Pineapple Dance Studio'-style prancing about starts to tire after a while. 'Hood!' is also surprisingly scary, especially the nightmarish 'eating' scenes, and might be too much for some children (it certainly would have been for me). I wonder if there is an even better 'Pan's Labyrinth'-style non-family fairy tale itching to get out. Peculius Stage has excellent form on these modern fairytale adaptations after last year's much-lauded 'Who's Afraid of the Brothers Grimm?', and it will be fascinating to see what they do next. The show is strewn with detail and shadow, but the jazz-flaked recreation of the labyrinthine forest when the wolf chases Red Riding Hood is particularly atmospheric. Sassy, haunting and superbly arranged by director Callum Cheatle and choreographer Lily Howkins, this is gripping stuff.
