Company of Wolves[author-post-rating] (2/5 stars)

For all of its constant talk of darkness and gore, this is a bloodless and gutless version of Angela Carter’s complex and knotty tale. In Carter’s story, the well-worn fairytale of Red Riding Hood is given a throbbing core of sexual violence – Red’s burgeoning sexuality is made explicit, and the line between “real” wolves and those that are “hairy on the inside” becomes creepily blurred. This show tries hard but fails to hit the mark.

This all-female version, by Big Shoes Theatre Company which is based at Redland School for Girls in Bristol, is a bit of a mess. Little things (one performer makes the ticking noise of a clock while another moves the pendulum, but they are never in time with each other) irritate – these feel like niggles that should have been ironed out in rehearsal, especially since the show boasts two directors (Sarah McCormack and Jessie Nixon). I don’t want to be overly harsh, as the young cast is doing its best with the material at hand, but they have been badly let down by the direction and decision-making behind this production.

The cast performs with intense commitment that’s impressive to see from such a young group, but the show is generally over-done and takes itself far too seriously. It’s a simplistic reading of Carter’s tale, too, with the ambiguous man-beast named just as “the werewolf”. Amy Kennedy does a decent job of injecting some menace into the werewolf character, but the physicality of the rest of the “wolves” leaves something to be desired. The script is gabbled and garbled, making it tricky to follow even this well-known story, and some extremely ill-advised dance sequences do their best to ruin the otherwise perfectly okay music (by Lily Garbutt).

There are some nice visual motifs but these girls are supposed to be “beasts of blood and darkness”, and big hair is not enough to give this production bite.

The Company of Wolves is at theSpace on North Bridge on 6, 8 and 10 August. For more information and tickets visit the Edinburgh Fringe website.