Emma Rice brings her own brand of theatrical wonder to this most beguiling and disturbing of tales.
Multi-award-winning director, Emma Rice (Wise Children, Malory Towers, Romantics Anonymous, Tristan & Yseult, The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk and Brief Encounter) returns to HOME with her ground-breaking theatre company Wise Children for her latest world premiere production, a music-fuelled feminist revenge on the magician who first seduces, then obliterates.
Blue Beard the Magician makes hearts flutter and pupils dilate. With a wink, a stroke and a flick – things just seem to vanish.
Cards, coins, scarves… and women. Puff! Gone. Without a trace.
He meets his match when his young bride discovers his dark and murderous secret.
She summons all her rage, all her smarts and all her sisters to bring the curtain down on his tyrannous reign.
Written and directed by Emma Rice, with her signature sleight of hand, Blue Beard explores curiosity and consent, violence and vengeance – all through an intoxicating lens of music, wit and tender truth.
When someone tells you not to look, OPEN THE BLOODY DOOR!
In 2022, Sky Arts named Emma amongst Britain’s 50 most influential artists of the last 50 years, and The Times put Tristan & Yseult on its list of the 25 best theatre productions of the 21st century.
About Wise Children
Created and led by Emma Rice, Wise Children launched in April 2018 and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Based in the South West, we make ground-breaking work with exceptional artists, and tour across the world. Alongside our shows, we run a unique professional development programme, The School for Wise Children, training a new and more diverse generation of theatre practitioners. We have just bought a building, The Lucky Chance, in Frome, Somerset which we use as our creation space, a home for the School and make theatre in which to welcome audiences of all shapes and sizes. We launched The Lucky Chance to the general public in December 2023 with The Little Matchgirl and Happier Tales.
Blue Beard in rehearsals
Reviews
A new Emma Rice production is always an event. Rice offers idiosyncrasy in abundance, the Wes Anderson of the theatre world.Fiona Mountford - i News
★★★★★ A wondrous, beguiling playground of the imagination.New York Times on Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights
★★★★★ A wildly imaginative, exhilarating piece of theatreDaily Mail on Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights
★★★★★ Everyone involved is reaching for the heights in this emotionally epic entertainmentThe Times on on Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights
Blue Beard Podacst
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Presented by HOME and Wise ChildernSchool for Wise Children Taster Workshop
The School for Wise Children is offering a unique opportunity for theatre makers aged 18+. The School for Wise Children Taster is a free, day-long…