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Sophie and Onioluwa Taiwo as Puppeteer Pictures Marc Brenner The BFG The Royal Shakespeare Company Stratford -upon-Avon ***** Being a massive fan of both Roald Dahl’s The BFG and of The Royal Shakespeare Company, it was with fizzing anticipation, or rather fizzpops of anticipation, that I went to watch the RSC’s production of the of The BFG in Stratford at the XXX theatre. Tom Wells’ new adaptation , directed by RSC Co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans, is both one of the cleverest plays I’ve ever seen and also the most immersive. From the off, I think it’s fair to say that you’re not watching the play so much as experiencing it – such is its magical feel. When the BFG races through England, it is nothing short of spectacular and immediately dunks you, head first into Roald Dahl’s wonderful universe. It intrigued me how they would handle the ‘Big’ in the BFG and I crossed my fingers and my toes that they did not resort to an over reliance on computer backgrounds or Jack and Beanstalk Panto of yesteryear style Giants off stage. As it happens the production was so classy and so clever in the way they approached (and solved) the conundrum of scale that I felt a small pang of guilt for ever doubting them. Video production was present but only to augment the illusions on stage rather than doing all the heavy lifting of trying to create the illusion in isolation. The cleverness is the way in which the play essentially works within 3 different size scales - human, puppet and mini puppet, By seamlessly combining them, this make it the most natural thing in the world and your gaze follows the action and the scale without even thinking about it. The classiness is evident in the way that nothing is left to chance, with a level of detail which is astonishing. For example BFG’s impressive Ears are exact replicas of John Leader’s actual ears, made substantially bigger. It pretty much sums up the RSC’s commitment to doing things the right way, that they went to those lengths for a simple pair of lugs. They could have gone generic, they could have gone for comedic, or scary, or hairy but instead they stayed true to the source material. As an actor it must be lovely to have that connection with your costume and also have a costume and props department who are so attuned to artistic needs and comfort. Indeed throughout the play, whatever the scale the audience sees, everything is perfectly replicated within the accompanying scales so nothing is jarring.
John Leader as the BFG Every element of this production is at the top of its game. Illusions, led by Chris Fisher have a field day, creating nearly 50 different dream jars and flying dreams. Kinnetia Isidore’s costumes are spot on – like you’re being jettisoned into a Roald Dahl book. Alan Fell, head of prop production does a fantastic job with all the scale models and props, right down to the tiny orphanage with working lights. The cast are superb, with John Leader a fantastic BFG who really captures the kindness and vulnerability of our titular Giant. No matter which scale of BFG we’re looking at, his performance always fills the stage. Ellemie Shivers and Maisy Lee, as Sophie and Kimberley respectively, show talent and timing far beyond what you should be able to reasonably expect from Chiddlers – definitely two to watch in the future. Supporting cast are equally impressive – Richard Riddell a suitable pantomime villain as blood bottler, Helena Lymbery providing grown up silliness as the Queen and Philip Labey and Luke Sumner providing an infectious dose of comedy as Captain’s Smith and Frith. Of the entire cast though – the most impressive and some would say the most integral are the puppeteers. What they have achieved in this production is almost beyond words, such is their artistry. The subtlety and skill is off the scale, managing to imbue the puppets with nuance and emotion and comedic flair. They are the mainstay of everything that is so fantastic about this production and it was fitting that they took the first bows at the end of the play. So take another bow Toby Olie, puppetry designer and director, and puppeteers Parkey Abeyratne, J.R Ballantyne, Sonya Cullingford, Ailsa Dalling, Fred David, Elisa De Grey, Lottie Johnson, Shaun McCourt, Corey Mitchell, Aki Nakagawa, Onioluwa Taiwo and Ben Thompson - you were all magnificent. The show as a whole is suitable for young and old and every seat in the house provides a different experience from its vantage point. Many shows are unsurprisingly sold out but there is limited availability on the run which lasts until February 7th. Buy your tickets HERE, you won’t be disappointed Theo Clarke 29-12-25 |
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