The Brothers Grimms, both named Jacob and Wilhelm respectively, were German scholars who were well known for Kinder und Hausmärchen, which is known to English speakers as Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
This play, The Twelve Huntsmen, is based on one of the Brothers Grimm stories.
Originally, the story starts with a prince and his fiance happily in love. However, his father, the King, is on his deathbed and wishes for his son to marry another. Filled with grief, the prince obliges, leaving his soon-to-be bride heartbroken. In this state, she asks her father to give her eleven women, who then she later makes all–including herself–into huntsmen. She, now presenting as a “he” and going by the name Cesario, then goes to the prince and asks if he needs huntsmen. He said yes. Sometime later, he soon discovered Cesario to be his ex, and they got married. However, the play not only changes the ending but also introduces many other stories the brothers’ wrote.
The play starts with the Brothers Grimm, lost in a forest–or adventuring if you were to ask Wilhelm. Jacob is incredibly hungry, eats an enchanted apple, and causes them to meet the Twelve Huntsmen. The brothers convinced the huntsmen not to kill them (with the help of food) and soon heard stories from the huntsmen; some funny, some tragic, and some weirdly enjoyable. Each of the stories was incredibly entertaining and all different; for example, one of the stories involved Snow White, and the story was told with the use of dance, body language, and facial expression.
Later, when the prince tries to get back with Cesario, she realizes that she loves the forest and her huntsmen–more than she’ll ever love the prince.
The set was beautiful. With each scene, props were added and removed and helped the stories come to life. In a particular story, a human boy was talking with two giants and a small doll was used to show the difference in size.
One audience member was Mr. Hernandez, an economics teacher at California High School. “My favorite scene was… the entire story of the pumpkin patch..,” he explained, “.. a little dark, which was surprising, and I like the fact that they went with it.”
After the play, I got the chance to interview some actors and ask about their experiences. Raquel Salazar, an actress who played a Huntsman, Girl #1, and in the ensemble, confessed that it was very stressful leading up to the play. “But, when it came to the actual show… we all enjoyed [the play]… I’m so happy I met everyone.”
All in all, the play was fantastic. Another viewer, Hades Nunez, agreed. “… a lot of the jokes were casual… a lot of funny business in there,” I recommend this play, and all other plays (and musicals!) produced by the CalHi drama department.
