Blue Beard

Blue Beard the Magician makes hearts flutter and pupils dilate. With a wink, a stroke and a flick, things just seem to vanish. Cards, coins, scarves... and women.

Puff! Gone. Without a trace.

He meets his match when his young bride discovers his dark and murderous secret. She summons all her rage, all her smarts and all her sisters to bring the curtain down on his tyrannical reign.

Emma Rice brings her own brand of theatrical wonder to this most beguiling and disturbing of tales. With her signature sleight of hand, Blue Beard explores curiosity and consent, violence and vengeance - all through an intoxicating lens of music, wit and tender truth.

When someone tells you not to look, OPEN THE BLOODY DOOR!

Blue Beard is the latest work from Wise Children, the theatre company created and led by award-winning director Emma Rice. Wise Children’s previous work includes Wuthering Heights and Malory Towers. Emma is also known for leading Cornwall’s beloved Kneehigh theatre company, where shows included Brief Encounter and Tristan & Yseult, and for her time as Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe, where she made Romantics Anonymous and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

In 2022, Sky Arts named Emma amongst Britain’s 50 most influential artists of the last 50 years, and The Times put Tristan & Yseult on its list of the 25 best theatre productions of the 21st century.

✭✭✭✭✭ “A wildly imaginative, exhilarating piece of theatre” Daily Mail

✭✭✭✭✭ “Everyone involved is reaching for the heights in this emotionally epic entertainment” The Times

✭✭✭✭✭ “A wondrous, beguiling playground of the imagination” New York Times

Reviews of Emma Rice / Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights

Age guidance - 12+, this show contains strong language and adult themes