Brighton Fringe 2026
Nocturne Musical
One More Saga Productions
Genre: Musical Theatre, Storytelling
Venue: The Dance Space - The Jamie Watton Creation Space
Festival: Brighton Fringe
Low Down
A new original musical created by composer and lyricist Hedda Rustad Carlsen, writer and art director Hannah Debansi and writer Leah Sperring. The musical is rooted in Norwegian folklore and folk music, filled with puppetry and beautiful set design, ready to transport you into the fairy-tale forest.
Review
People sometimes say of Disney cartoons like Snow White that they are “delightful” and “ charming”. To say Nocturne musical was delightful and charming would be entirely right as long as it was understood that this show was full of delight and that it had huge charm, in a far more powerful way than any Disney cartoon. It opens with Hedda Rustad Carlsen as Solveig singing her call to her cow at the edge of the forest in this strong absolutely beautiful open throat Norwegian folk singing style (I can’t find a video or soundtrack that illustrates this, but if you’ve ever heard Agnes Buen Garnås (1946 – 2024), the doyenne of Norwegian folksong, she is absolutely on a par with her). Her voice is resonant, distinctive and clear and it fills the auditorium with wonderful vibrant sound. It’s a good start.
All the tropes of Norwegian fairy tales are here, from trolls to the Ash Lad, forest spirits and the father of the house, the dark forest. The forest is almost a character in itself with the trees occasionally multiplying in an atmospheric set, the forest spirits (Kayleigh Osborne & Hannah Debansi adding to the mystery, the lighting taking us from dawn to night. There are puppets, life size extensions of those operating them, the strange otherworldly dragon of Nøkken (Em-J Smith), the oddly sensitive snout of the great polar bear, King Valemon (Jack Stringer). It’s a colourful and entertaining spectacle even apart from the spirited songs, physical theatre and slapstick action.
The audience was a mix of adults and children but this is not “just” a children’s show. Having said that, the five smallish children sitting just in front of me in the front row were entranced throughout, but the adults sitting next me were entranced as well. Plotwise it’s a proper fairy tale with a quiet subversive edge. The hapless Espen (Norwegian for aspen the tree with the leaves that shake and shiver) Askeladden sees himself as the hero, but he’s always getting it wrong, falling over, losing his axe. The reins of control of this story are firmly in the hands of the heroine Solveig, the character that pulls everything together.
There is much comedy and slapstick – the double act of the Country Mouse (Helena Rustad Carlsen) and the House Mouse (Leah Sperring), always arguing, is hilarious. The trolls are both funny and frightening, the Old Man of the House suitably silly and energetic. The Nøkken is both strange and alluring in one guise, horrific in another, the Old Mother (Saskia Douglas) is by turns wittily selfish and sharp, her asides and comment are both comic but pushing the story where needed. (The character of the Old Mother or Witch is often seen as having both links to the dark and the light in Northern European fairy tales and this ambiguity is nicely exploited by Saskia Douglas – the audience enjoyed her acerbic comments). The dialogue is well written and equally well delivered.
As musical theatre, as story, as comedy, as horror (mild but satisfyingly disturbing nonetheless), as movement, as song, this production succeeds on all its levels. The audience is pulled into a whirl of Norwegian forest and mystery, and despite all the different stories and songs it all comes together in a joyful whole at the end.
