Yannis 

Thavoris

Stage 

Design

Humperdinck Hänsel & Gretel Royal Northern College of Music, March 2018 Director Stephen Medcalf Choreographer Bethan Rhys Wiliam Lighting Jason Taylor

videos

The production was also presented by Grange Park Opera in June 2019.

Reviews for the Grange Park Opera Production 

Yannis Thavoris’s brilliant designs economically evoke the world of Sickert’s paintings or the naturalistic novels of HG Wells. ***** (Telegraph)


...there are endless resonances and connections animating this production, and its great strength is that they flow effortlessly out of each other. ***** (ClassicalSource.com)


...witty and imaginative rethinking... ***** (Evening Standard)


Reviews for the RNCM Production

Set and costume designer Yannis Thavoris excelled, creating a delightful, ingeniously designed set and conspicuous costumes which felt ideal for the production. (Seen and Heard International)


...the sets were outstanding in their aptness, variety and overall quality. The sweet shop was quite spectacular in its presentation and usability. (Seen and Heard International)


This Hansel and Gretel has 'classic' stamped all over it (The Spectator)


...the Witch’s Konditorei, emerging from nowhere, transforms – and this really is a coup de théâtre – into a magnified version of the one-room home the children started off in (like in Cats, the larger-than-lifesize sets make you enter another world).

Designer Yannis Thavoris, who also did wonders for the RNCM’s Cendrillon last December, has created this masterly effect. (...)

Thavoris also provides a small army of gaslamp lighters for the outdoor scene, with glimmering ends to their poles like glow-worms – and who later turn into guardian angels...

...This urban reimagining all has the same sentimental warmth as the original. (the arts desk)


Medcalf and Thavoris provide many artful touches, such as the gaslamp lighters with glimmering ends to their poles like glow-worms, who later turn into guardian angels (as we see from woolly wings sewn on their backs), and the Dew Fairy as a morning milkman from ‘Dew Farm Dairy’. The magnified home inside the Witch’s lair is a superb idea and brilliantly achieved. (Manchester Theatre Awards)