Into the woods

Hansel and Gretel makes an intelligent choice for a Christmas family entertainment. With its magical settings, fantastical plot and profusion of folk-inspired melodies, it offers an ideal introduction to the world of opera for young children, and at the same time the work's symphonic richness and psychological complexity make it equally tempting for adults. The delicate relationship between parent and child could, however, be seen to be at the heart of Humperdinck's dark drama: turfed out by their mother for greediness, the children fall prey to a monstrous witch who wishes to consume them in turn. In overcoming this perverted matriarch and reuniting with their parents, Hansel and Gretel eventually learn to temper their own desires whilst symbolically killing the mother who failed to give them the nurture they required.  In their…