THE BFG. RSC. STRATFORD UPON AVON
Roald Dahl’s The BFG, first published in 1982, is a story fizzing with fun, farts and friendship. Loved by millions of ‘chiddlers’ worldwide, it’s a tale of towering giants, floating dreams and strange, wonderful magic. In classic Dahl fashion, grotesque humour rubs shoulders with warmth and mischief with plenty of cheeky pokes at grown-ups along the way. Bringing such a gloriously odd world to the stage is no small feat, but under the assured direction of Daniel Evans, the Royal Shakespeare Company delivers a production that feels every bit as magical as its source material.
The story opens in an orphanage, where Sophie and Kimberley bicker over magic and dreams before Sophie is whisked away to Giant Country by the Big Friendly Giant after spotting him on a midnight wander. Unlike his fearsome neighbours, the BFG is kind-hearted, if often hard to understand thanks to his gloriously muddled language. After all, he never went to school. Living on revolting snozzcumbers, he spends his nights collecting and concocting dreams rather than gobbling up ‘norphans’. When Sophie learns that the other giants are planning to feast on human ‘beans’ and little ‘chiddlers’ across the world, she dreams up a bold plan to stop them, enlisting the help of the Queen of England. It is a tale that balances peril with tenderness, fizzing with Dahl’s gleefully off-kilter imagination.
The roles of Sophie and Kimberley are shared between a number of young performers. At the performance reviewed, Sophie was played with just the right blend of curiosity and sass by Elsie Laslett. Alongside Charlotte Jones as Kimberley, she navigates a stage filled with an extraordinary array of puppets, from the delicately dreamlike to the gloriously monstrous. Both young actors are impressively confident, not only in their delivery but in the physical demands of the production. They’re lifted, spun and carried through the air by the visible ensemble of actors/puppeteers with remarkable ease.
John Leader is a hugely engaging BFG, capturing the character’s mangled language, boundless energy and gawky physicality. An early sequence, showing the BFG racing back to Giant Country, is particularly effective, with illuminated model buildings conveying scale and speed in a way that feels playful rather than literal.
The production’s puppetry and model work are consistently stunning. Transitions between live actors and puppets are seamless, reinforcing the giants’ immense size without ever breaking the spell. The set itself is relatively minimal, but clever lighting and constant visual invention ensure the stage never feels bare.
The fearsome Bloodbottler brings genuine menace, providing moments of tension that ripple through the auditorium. If there is a minor quibble, it is that Giant Country feels a touch too clean. Dahl’s world is famously slimy, full of snot, spit and stomach-churning snozzcumbers. Still, this feels a small price to pay for the theatrical magic on offer.
Comic relief comes courtesy of Captains Smith and Frith, played with gusto by Philip Labey and Luke Sumner. Their Monty Python-esque physical humour and an ongoing joke involving a moustache land well with children and adults alike.
The second half allows Helena Lymbery’s bored and pampered Queen and Sargon Yelda’s uptight butler Tibbs to shine. A recognisable monarch in the mould of Elizabeth II, ‘her majester’ proves more than capable, firmly putting the ‘medium size men’ in their place before piloting her own ‘bellypopper’ helicopter and defeating the giants.
The final breakfast scene is a joyful explosion of whizzpopping chaos, as frobscottle-fuelled farts, orchestrated by the Queen, drift across a visibly delighted young audience.
Running at one hour and 35 minutes, including an interval, The BFG is perfectly paced to keep younger viewers enthralled while leaving adults marvelling at the ingenuity of the RSC’s creative team. The production is a reminder that theatre is built not just on performance, but on the deep craft, technical expertise and collaborative skill of designers, puppeteers, makers and technicians whose work is integral to bringing stories to life night after night.
This new staging is a joyful, uplifting theatrical experience and even the hardest-hearted cynic may find themselves brushing away a sneaky tear by the end. After all as Sophie says ‘dreams have the power to change things’.
Photos credit: Marc Brenner
