“Hansel and Greta Save the World” is a fun-filled, completely original and locally written pantomime by the Orkney Children’s Theatre Club.

Scarlett Manson, Paiton Kemp and Stevie Pirie as the three fashion princesses Cinderella, Snow White and Jasmin.

We meet Greta and her brother Hansel, two young environmental activists, who find themselves journeying to the North Pole to confront the Stoorworm, a sea dragon who they believe to be behind the current climate catastrophe. On the way, they come up against foes such as the Gingerbread Witch of the West-Wood, and her cronies Rump and Toris.

Emese Veres as Greta, in an encounter with the Stoorworm

The show is a comedy with a dark undertone, deeply embedded in the news, events and politics of 2019, with the global climate emergency at its core.

 “We wanted to explore the idea of waking a dragon as a metaphor for climate change. I have been following the young climate activist Greta Thunberg online this year, and from that the idea of mixing Hansel and Gretel with the Orcadian tale of Assipattle and the Stoorworm was born” explains the show’s director Ragnhild Ljosland, who also wrote the script.

“The Gingerbread Witch of the West-Wood is the real baddie of the show. She has fingers in many pies (literally, as she is also Hansel’s home economics teacher), but can’t be pinned to any crimes. She pulls strings and controls everything from the fashion industry to the manipulation of the American election. Her motto is: I want it all!”

“My favourite scene is where Hansel and Greta have got lost in the deep, dark woods, which turns out to be a dark corner of the internet where the trolls hang out. They come to a signpost reading ‘Warning: You are now leaving the European Union’ which of course leads to a classic ‘Oh no, we’re not – Oh yes, we are’ shouting match.”

“The heroes of the tale are, in addition to Hansel and Greta, the three princesses Cinderella, Snow White and Jasmin. They are Instagram celebrities and top fashion bloggers but have been misled by the Gingerbread Witch to think they want all sorts of beauty treatments, clothes and shoes. But will they eventually be able to shake off the witch’s influence and rebel?”

“What happens when the Stoorworm melts out of the ice cap? And can two children really save the world?”

Orkney Children’s Theatre Club Perform Hansel and Greta Save the World

Saturday 21^st December at 7 pm

Sunday 22^nd December at 3 pm

at Harray Community Hall

Tickets: £5 adults, £3 children, £15 for a family of up to two adults and three children, from Baikie’s Stores in Finstown and Herald Printshop/Hume Sweet Hume in Kirkwall.