Poles apart from

usual standard Beowulf, English Shakespeare Company, Opera House, Manchester. Runs until Saturday - mornings and afternoon performances. WHAT with killing the monster, Grendel, the ogre's hag of a mother and a marauding dragon, poor old Beowulf does not have much time to look on the bright side of life. Thus there is precious little humour in this morality tale adapted and considerably condensed from the 8th century Anglo-Saxon epic poem by Michael Bogdanov, Artistic Director of the English Shakespeare Company and this production. It is aimed at children aged between eight and 12, and last night the many youngsters in the audience were politely attentive most of the time but seemed relieved when they could have an infrequent giggle or applaud the lively Polish acrobats.

The music and movement - apart from the last sequence with folk dancing of somewhat obscure origin - was laboured and I found the Morris dancing style slots and sword dancing sections dull and repetitive.

Although Beowulf (Peter Theiss) is the hero figure he is never sufficiently charismatic to gain our support and although we were told sternly there should be no suggestion of understanding for the monster, I couldn't suppress a sneaking sympathy for Grenvel, who, like his mother, appeared as a huge distorted shadow behind a screen and was about as fearsome as a gambolling puppy.

The dragon - more like a refugee from a village panto than a mythical creature - pranced about nicely, but kept the fear factor low.

While it was pleasant to hear some well-delivered prose, notably from Clive Arrindell, there was too much narration and not enough characterisation for my taste.

The clashing of wooden poles caught the attention the first couple of times and while these same implements cleverly did service as boats, biers and much else, the whole exercise wore a bit thin.

The jigging about at the end of the performance got the children clapping, but I doubt the production captured or fired their imagination.

This production is not in the same league as the splendid Midsummer Night's Dream which is part of the ESC's double bill. By DOREEN CROWTHER

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