A hugely impressive adaptation with stunning puppetry, a delightfully witty script, brilliant effects, and fabulous performances.
Rating
Unmissable!
Roald Dahl‘s beloved children’s book tells the story of a friendly giant who teams up with an orphan called Sophie to save the world from huge child-eating giants. It’s not an obvious choice for a stage adaptation: I mean, how do you put a giant on stage? It’s even trickier when some giants need to be much bigger than others. Director Daniel Evans solves it in style using fabulous puppets of differing sizes to create the necessary scale.
The BFG himself (a terrific performance from John Leader) has three sizes – he is a small puppet in scenes with the big bad giant, Bloodbottler, a human actor in scenes with a small Sophie puppet, and a large puppet in scenes with the young actor playing Sophie. The transitions are impressive and seamless and the detail of the puppets is remarkable. Brilliantly designed by Toby Olié, they all look exactly like the actors they represent. The skill of the puppeteers is superb; they manipulate the puppets so perfectly that the movements are very natural and fluid. This production has ten hardworking puppeteers who are the unsung heroes of the piece, operating many different puppets of different sizes and complexity – some needing several puppeteers working in tight formation to create the required effect. It’s a totally stunning achievement.
The play opens to a detailed model of Sophie’s orphanage. Its windows are lit, it has outside lights by the doors and smoke coming from the chimney. Actors open the roof to reveal a dormitory with a row of beds. As the model recedes, the beds belonging to orphans Sophie and Kimberley move forward. There are so many examples like this where scene changes simply flow from one to another, maintaining a cracking pace and emphasising the magic of the piece. There are fabulous special effects too, not least when brightly lit dreams dart above the audience as the BFG catches them. When he mixes a special dream to alert the Queen that giants are coming to eat children, bubbles, glitter and fireworks explode from the mixture.
The stirring background music also perfectly elevates the exhilarating atmosphere. When the BFG flies to London from Giant Country, illuminated models of London landmarks soar past him. He is physically lifted by other actors to create the illusion of moving rapidly through the sky. The background displays darkly swirling seas. The overall effect is marvellous.
When Sophie sees him, he snatches her puppet from the model orphanage and the actor playing Sophie zooms rapidly up to the rafters in her bedsheet. I sat watching open-mouthed – it was spectacular. The role of Sophie is shared by Martha Bailey Vine, Elsie Laslett and Ellemie Shivers, while the role of her friend Kimberley is shared by Maisy Lee, Charlotte Jones and Uma Patel and the actors playing Sophie and Kimberley in tonight’s performance were excellent; natural and funny with excellent comic timing. Sophie was feisty with great physicality in a very demanding role for such a young actor.
The scenes with the Queen (Helena Lymbery) are hugely enjoyable as her staff anticipate her every need, much to her growing frustration. Her security team, Captains Smith and Frith (Philip Labey and Luke Sumner) are hilarious as stereotypical posh soldiers, very proud of their moustaches. Frith’s is huge, and nobody but Smith can tell what he’s saying. Their scenes are very witty. Completing this fine cast are Richard Riddell, giving a delicious performance as Bloodbottler, and Sargon Yelda playing the Queen’s butler, Tibbs, with poise and precision.
This stunning production is a complete joy and does total justice to a much-loved story. It’s a giant five stars from me!
Written by: Roald Dahl
Adapted by: Tom Wells
Directed by: Daniel Evans
Choreography & Movement Direction by: Ira Mandela Siobhan
Puppetry Designed & Directed by: Toby Olié
Set Designed by: Vicki Mortimer
Costumes Designed by: Kinnetia Isidore
Lighting Designed by: Zoe Spurr
Composer: Oleta Haffner
Musical Direction by: Màth Roberts
The BFG plays at the RSC until Saturday 7 February.
