The Scentless Apprentice is being billed as a dark and disarming fairytale, and like all good fairytales it uses the power of imagination to transport its audience.
Inspired by Patrick Suskind's classic novel Perfume, it tells the story of an orphan with an incredible sense of smell but no body
odour of his own. He overcomes poverty and cruel treatment to become a celebrated perfumier but he is also a serial killer who murders beautiful virgins as he tries to capture their intoxicating scent.
The dense and sprawling novel is much loved by its fans for its detailed descriptions of the art of perfume-making and vivid recreations of the sights and smells of 18th-century Paris. If this makes it sound like a pretty travelogue back in time, it is worth remembering that it is also an investigation of the darker side of life that climaxes with a scene of orgiastic cannibalism.
With such difficult source material, there are plenty of pitfalls for a young director but Colin Mitchell proves he is a talent to watch in this successful adaptation of an impossible novel.
He has captured the essence of the novel and brings it to life with a simple but intimate approach and excellent stagecraft.
First up is the cast of five who, no matter what their level of experience, all give note-perfect performances.
Often a review will highlight a standout performance but all the actors deserve praise in this production.
Margaret-Mary Hollins, Phil Brown and Ben Crowder are energetically charismatic, shifting easily from character to character. Simon London and Natalia Di Palma play the murderer and his victims respectively with a quiet stillness that demonstrates you don't have to be showy to be good.
Simple special-effects are used to simulate the violence and the passion of the novel and it is refreshing as an audience member to be given the opportunity to use your own imagination to fill in the blanks. In one of the most memorable scenes, the killer hunts his young victim as she is transfixed by fireworks. When he takes her life the sparkler she is playing with is extinguished and the theatre plunges into darkness.
The actors are well-supported by the production team whose contributions help to create a fairytale, fable world. From composer Drew McMillan's moody score to the well-made costumes and the evocative lighting and projection from Paul Nicoll and Rob Appierdo, all the elements are working in harmony.
During the second act, sensual perfumes, including jasmine and sandalwood, waft through the theatre, adding an extra dimension to key scenes. Whether you find these too subtle or overwhelming will depend on your own sense of smell.
Perfumes can evoke emotional responses and visual memories, and in the heat of the Silo Theatre I was grateful not to detect any attempts to recreate the stench of the tannery or the jail.
Like perfume-making, theatre is an ephemeral art that lives on only in the mind of its audience. Add some evocative images to your memory banks and make sure you experience this excellent production before it disappears into the ether.* The Scentless Apprentice runs from March 9 to March 26
The Scentless Apprentice is being billed as a dark and disarming fairytale, and like all good fairytales it uses the power of imagination to transport its audience.
Inspired by Patrick Suskind's classic novel Perfume, it tells the story of an orphan with an incredible sense of smell but no body
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