Hadestown: Teen Edition – Copper Studios

Hadestown: Teen Edition pulls you into a world where love is fragile, hunger is real, and hope is a risk. Orpheus, a dreamer with a song in his chest, falls for Eurydice ,sharp, wary, and tired of surviving. When hardship closes in, she makes a choice that leads her straight into Hadestown: an underground factory kingdom ruled by the iron will of Hades. Orpheus follows, armed only with music, daring to challenge power itself. Guided by Hermes and haunted by the Fates, this is a story about trust, sacrifice, and the cost of looking back.

Director/MD Harry Hindley takes on this powerhouse of a sung-through show with a cast of 24, and only three boys and his ambition pays off. His decision to set the piece in World War II works from the moment I enter the auditorium: the pre-show soundscape evokes wartime Britain, authentic period props, edge the stage, I was instantly inside a world of scarcity, fear, and endurance before a single note is sung. Sound by Mark Di Martino is mostly well balanced, though there are moments where it overpowers the performers, slightly blunting the clarity of lyrics in key passages.

The opening hits and my first thought is that this cast is not messing about.  The energy is sharp from the first beat everyone is fully switched on. Meg Hindley’s choreography is contemporary, stylish, and performed with conviction, giving the ensemble real purpose rather than dated movement. Although slightly smaller tables would have created more space for transitions.

Hermes (Caitlin Creswick) anchors the show with confidence and pace. Dressed strikingly as an air raid warden, she has that rare storyteller quality where you trust her instantly and the audience leans in with her. A couple of late mic cues clip the start of speeches, but the plot remains clear and the performance stays grounded.

Orpheus (Jasmine Hutchings) brings full sincerity genuinely hopeful without ever tipping into twee. Vocally clean and emotionally present, Hutchings acts through the music, letting you see the character thinking rather than simply delivering lines. Eurydice (Lottie Parsons) changes the temperature the second she enters: guarded, watchful, and constantly scanning for danger. Their chemistry is believable, which makes the later choices land with real emotional weight.

Then come the Fates (Ava Hudson, Millie Petsas-Wood, Toby Woolerton) genuinely unsettling, never overplayed, never pantomime. Their harmonies land with precision, tightening the atmosphere every time they appear. Costuming throughout (impressively supplied by Cotswold Costumes) supports the WWII concept beautifully, with the Fates’ armed forces styling adding to their authority and threat.

The ensemble, as the workers, fully earns their role. Their movement is cohesive and mesmerising: they aren’t background, they’re a machine, a community, a world.

Reaching  Hadestown, the shift is clean: lighting drops, the sound thickens, and the stage suddenly feels hotter, tighter, more trapped. Hades (Sadie Ridley) enters and it is immediate their stillness, gravitas, authority, is perfectly controlled. Persephone (Eden Bell) is the perfect contrast full of warmth, chaos, with a flash of sass but with visible weariness underneath that gives her depth.

The Orpheus/Hades confrontations land with real tension, and the pacing never sags. Then comes the final stretch — the walk back — and the staging here is a masterstroke. The workers dynamically reshape the road while torches act as moving spotlights, creating a sequence that feels theatrical, tense, and genuinely cinematic.

And when the choice lands, you feel the heartbreak ripple across the room like a wave. The final moments are controlled: emotional but never messy. They let the story do what it does.

Curtain call brings instant applause — not polite, not delayed — because everyone knows they’ve just watched a cast do something properly hard, and do it with real maturity.

Photography by Simon Tickle Photography