REVIEW: Beowulf, at Worcester Cathedral, Thursday, October 12, 2017.

THIS world premiere - a brand new musical re-telling of the timeless fantasy saga of the legendary figure of Beowulf, was quite captivating.

What better setting for a tale of good overcoming evil than the vast space afforded by Worcester’s cathedral, which is just about as old as the story of Beowulf itself.

Mark Williams, a wonderfully popular face and voice from the hugely successful Harry Potter series of films, as well as being seen world-wide in the Father Brown television series, splendidly anchored the evening’s performance with his narration in the role of Beowulf.

The production featured original music by Toby Young (who has worked with Duran Duran and The Rolling Stones) and a script by Danny Coleman-Cooke (a writer for Have I Got News For You), and it was all produced by Armonico Consort.

Performing along with them were the immensely talented harpist Catrin Finch (former harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales), soprano Elin Manahan Thomas and Young himself on keyboards, together with Armonico Consort’s top professional singers.

The 60-minute piece, which was also performed in the same week at Telford, Solihull and Coventry, also featured a 150-strong children’s choir comprising pupils from several local schools, including Redditch’s Batchley First.

The Batchley choir has been going for four years now and its children have also sung at Symphony Hall and the Royal Albert Hall.

Together with two other Worcester primary schools, Perdiswell and St Barnabas, and members of the AC Academy After School Choir, there was a considerable buzz of anticipation and at times uncontrollable excitement but once their massed ranks were in full flow they were a joy to listen to This tale of heroes, warriors and magical beasts, is an enchanting one and Young’s music adds greater relevance as an aid to the fantasy we are being told.

There are strong folk-pop influences and also the bonus of a terrific libretto by JR Thorp, which Young adequately described as beautifully reflecting the rich world of monsters and battles.

Young says he enjoys ‘blurring’ traditional senses when he composes, mixing in folk elements to classical, or classical ideas into pop.

It worked well as the children’s chorus represented Beowulf’s inner thoughts, his subconscious; the adult chorus were more moral guardians and advisers, and the solo soprano, the powerful Elin Manahan Thomas, moved us into the darker elements, especially when she took on the role of Grendel’s mother, another of the monsters Beowulf was forced to fight to save his people.

The music combined perfectly with the lyrical beauty of the original text and it’s here that Danny Coleman-Cooke’s script ensured we didn’t just have a straight-forward battle of right against wrong, good against evil, but a hero with elements of tenderness, complexity and, to a degree, ambiguity.

All was designed to entertain the whole family and with a rich mix of ages in a large audience it appeared they had certainly enjoyed the performance, if not left feeling a touch saddened at the eventual demise of the heroic Beowulf.