Review: The Little Matchgirl @ Oxford Playhouse - 'Not so much a fairytale as a deliciously dark morality lesson'

THE tales of Hans Christian Andersen are often depicted as light hearted and fluffy – all ugly ducklings, diminutive children and pompous emperors. But that is to do them a huge injustice. They are, at heart, as dark as anything created by the Brothers Grimm, dealing in misery, misfortune and death.