BFG at Lyceum: Scary monsters that children love
IN Roald Dahl's story The BFG, little orphan Sophie is snatched from her bed in the middle of the night by a monster and taken to the land of giants.
It is surely every child's nightmare but that's the genius of Dahl, according to Phil Clark, director of the stage version of The BFG which is touring to the Lyceum next week.
"He is not afraid to frighten children and confront them with their fears and when you are dealing with that level of darkness they end up asking bigger questions of the world," he says.
"His stories will always have a continuing relevance because what he does so brilliantly is celebrate children. Whereas most tell you children should be seen and not heard, he was saying the opposite."
His is a new production of the 1990 adaptation by David Wood, the prolific children's theatre dramatist. "It follows the journey of Dahl's novel which is playing with size, a child lost in a giant world which is a metaphor for children growing up in this world, and then the giant lost in the human world."
How to represent the two scales on stage is surely quite a challenge. "In part one we play with a small puppet and a human being as a giant and in the second part we have the actors alongside a massive puppet," explains the director.
"You can do anything on stage," asserts Clark. "While you have to be real on TV or film we deal with the imagination.
"The BFG is a celebration of storytelling which provides a frame for the show. It's Sophie's birthday party and the entertainer doesn't turn up and she tells the story.
"The first thing a child gets is storytelling through picture books and nursery rhymes. We in the theatre trade on that.
"You will never replace the oral tradition and that is all in Dahl's world. The great thing about Dahl is he has no difficulty in being naughty and every child likes being naughty."
Another element of the production is music. The cast of 10 are all actor musicians and Clark proudly announces there are 35 different musical instruments played on stage during the show. "It's another form of storytelling," he declares.
Clark has since moved on to another collaboration with David Wood ("the official Roald Dahl adapter"), George's Marvellous Medicine, and will then work on a stage version of David Almond's best-selling children's novel, Skellig.
"It's extremely popular and has become a set book. Ironically it's taken over from Kes," says the director, who knows South Yorkshire well from his time as associate director of the Crucible in the Eighties under Clare Venables during which he set up the Theatre in Education.
"I had seven great years there and hope to come up for one of my periodic looks at The BFG while it's in Sheffield."
The BFG is at the Lyceum from Tuesday to Saturday, June 20 when there will be a Phizzwizard Fun Day of Roald Dahl-inspired fun and games for children of all ages throughout the afternoon at the theatre.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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