What I liked
Would you believe a simple black box stage might successfully contain a horse chase through a forest, complete with avoiding trees and leaping over a ravine? You should! Because this show has exactly that! Just as it shows us (in the minimal way, with great success) the monster of the title—and it is genuinely terrifying!
More, and this is the heart of it, the story is more than good, more than simply satisfying. If feels in some quite fundamental way real, not least because of the ending (which, despite the warning in all my reviews, shall not be spoiled here). That, however, addresses the book. What the cast, director, crew do in committing to this story and to the world of knights and derring do where all takes place 100% is the final ingredient without which no play, no matter how well written, can truly work.
A total delight.
What I didn't like
More PERFORMANCES!
My overall impression
Long ago I came to conclusion that the best dramatic medium to tell epic fantasy is not, in fact, film with all its amazing special effects, but live theatre with its power of imagination.
Gideon and the Blundersnort is an example of why I feel that way. It relates a story in much the same vein as The Hobbit, and The Princess Bride, with more than a dash or two of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
