Review: RED, Chickenshed Theatre

There’s no sound quite like it. The excited chatter of primary school children, on a trip out of the classroom and waiting (in line, two by two - some things don’t change) to enter Chickenshed’s Rayne Theatre. It’s always a surprise when, once seated and after a longer than expected wait that could have sapped the notoriously short patience today’s kids, they fall silent, watch and listen. Overly romantic I know, but I couldn’t help but think of how many generations have done that going back to Ancient Greece.

This company’s ethos, honed over 50 years, is rooted in inclusivity and that’s never more evident than in the annual Christmas shows, performed in 2025 by a revolving rota of casts comprising a total of 800 young adults and professional actors / educators. How they don’t fall over each other is a miracle in itself! 

Every kid in every audience will find someone on stage (if they so wish) who looks like them, moves like them, speaks like them. And they’re just there, not in their own space with their own help, not othered by their special needs, but telling the story alongside everyone else. It’s a paradox, but, as soon as you see the different nature of some performers, those differences disappear - lost in the humanity crowding our senses. There’s no apologising to the passengers on the bus while waiting for the ramp to extend to the pavement - you can’t do that while you’re spinning in a wild dance can you?

The show itself is a twisted tale that has its roots in Little Red Riding Hood, but incorporates inspiration from the Marvel Comic Universe franchise and a touch or two of The Rocky Horror Show. Devised in collaboration with the kids, you can calibrate the changes in productions over the years, as each generation finds its voice to tell its story in its own way.

That said, some things are constant. The sets, constructed in-house, are splendid, Andrew Caddies, like so many theatremakers here, a graduate of Chickenshed himself, really coming into his own when he lights his stage. These high production values create a unique sense of occasion, the kids standing up and turning around and around as stars spin above their heads or our heroine disappearing into a misty, dark, scary forest. The make-do-and-mend spirit of community theatre has its place of course, but these kids will never forget how theatre can so transform a space and open up the imagination.

Red herself is a mardy teen, bickering with her little brother on the way to visit her somewhat mysterious grandmother in Vargheim, a town set in woods and mountains rather different to the immediate environs of Cockfosters. There they meet locals who live in fear of The Wolf, who will eat Red if he captures her! But, they also meet magical sprites, who tell a rather different story.

Grandma herself presides over a non-stop party of privilege at her mansion, worshipping money and power and very keen to get her hands on Red’s shining amulet, which matches her own. She believes that it will, once united with the lost third of the set, give her supreme power (yes, there’s a bit of Elon in her) and that arouses Red’s suspicions. When the girl meets The Wolf, in person more melancholic than menacing, Red learns that people aren’t always as they appear and neither is power, a tool that can be used for good as well as ill.

Along the way, Dave Carey provides plenty of catchy songs, rap’n’rock’roll, played by the youth band, who are not averse to leaving a bass or keyboard behind and joining in on stage. Cara McInanny belts with the best as Grandma, a sly look never leaving her eyes. Michael Bossisse lends The Wolf a fatherly demeanour, his gentle speaking voice - it is a wonderful instrument in itself - revealing to Red that she should be wary of judging things by the way they look and to question what she hears. Sebastian Ross has a lot of fun with Chester the Butler, a Jeeves-like figure who really just wants to be free.

The message about kindness and hope in a world too often greedy and bleak, emerges slowly in the story, but there’s no sermonising. It’s never a lesson, never hammered home, the audience led to their growing understanding.

There’s nowhere quite like Chickenshed, a beacon of possibilities in a world too often too darkened by its problems not brightened by its opportunities. “Theatre Changing Lives” is its slogan - and you can see that happening in real time. And that's no fairytale.    

Red at Rayne Theatre Chickenshed until 10 January