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Pip Utton - Hunchback of Notre Dames

 
Richard Beck Review by Richard Beck 5 Published: 3 Jun 2026 A Studio Rubín Show Dates: 25 May 2026-30 May 2026

There’s a particular thrill when a classic story is stripped back and submitted to the craft of an outstanding single performer. In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, at Studio A Rubin as part of Prague Fringe, the master of solo performance, Pip Utton, delivers another triumph from his series of towering characters that have included Lear, Churchill, Chaplin and many others.

Richly textured, full of heartache and longing, replete with reminiscences and recollections

As we enter, Utton is there, barefoot, dressed in shabby sackcloth and holding a small posy of white flowers. His back is towards us, revealing the hunch that dictated how the world viewed Quasimodo. He looks to the ground, his stare transfixed by the body of his beloved Esmeralda, one of the few people ever to show compassion towards him. He mourns her loss, turns and then takes us back in time until his life story is fully revealed and we return to the present and the tale's tragic ending.

Throughout, he remains utterly immersed in the character of Quasimodo, drawing us into his sad life in a manner that is immediate, intimate and emotionally devastating. His voice is the only sound we hear except for the timely introduction of the famous bells of Notre Dame; bells that had caused his severely impaired hearing, but which, in the absence of people, had become dear friends, each lovingly named and called upon to perform. He looks down on the streets of Paris and observes the everyday life from which he is excluded; the interactions from which he is prohibited and the encounters with friends which he is denied.

His narrative is richly textured, full of heartache and longing, replete with reminiscences and recollections of childhood, of the loves that might have been and the painful details of the flogging he received when he made a rare venture onto the streets and was arrested. This is no grotesque caricature, but the portrayal of a painfully isolated soul with deep feelings and yearnings, who can yet find wit and humour in the misery of existence. This is all conveyed through the power of a meticulously performed character study of small gestures, little steps and the humility of a mostly bowed head, in which the slightest movement or change of voice can transform a scene, turning individuals into crowds with ease. He also allows himself the occasional enraged outburst.

It's a superbly balanced performance, precisely what Utton has become famous for, and despite all his claims to be retiring, we look forward to seeing him at many more Fringes in Prague, where he's been coming for 23 years, and at others around Europe.

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The Blurb:

Quasimodo is keeping vigil over the lifeless body of his Gypsy love Esmeralda . With a quiet focused voice and humanly crumpled features, this hunchback is no movie caricature and becomes less so as we learn more of his life, rejected at birth as an abomination, raised lovingly by the cathedral’s archdeacon but rejected by all others. He struggles to understand how the Catholic God can love him, if He made him as he is. He Looks the world from his home, the lofty peak of the Notre Dames, with only the bells and gargoyles for company. His description of the bells as family members is comic yet heart-rending, while his often poetic descriptions of life in the cathedral and the city help to place him within our own lives. We realise, for example, that his encounter with the gypsy woman is no coincidence but part of the ebb and flow of city life, that Paris’s beauty itself is skin-deep, for, when night falls, evil emerges from the daily hustle and bustle.

Buy tickets 25.05. 19:15 – 20:15 26.05. 18:30 – 19:30 30.05. 19:00 – 20:00 Age Accessibility 14+ Language Easy English Venue A Studio Rubín Add to My Calendar Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su 22232425262728