Picture from everymanplayhouse.com
Originally published by L.S. Media. April 1st 2011.
Cast: Nicholas Burns, David Cardy, Ryan Cage, Andy Nyman.
To some, the very name Roald Dahl invokes memories of hiding behind the sofa and watching through the gaps of tight, clamped hands and being mesmerized by the sight of lady dancing in flames, as the title music to The Tales of the Unexpected rang through living rooms up and down the country.
Now after last year’s smash hit Ghost Stories, The Liverpool Playhouse once more delves into the mysterious and peculiar as Jeremy Dyson adapts some of the most popular stories from Roald Dahl’s collection and brings them to life on the stage.
With stories that were chillingly suspenseful and the deft touch of one of The League of Gentleman creators at the helm, there would have been a story that would have grabbed, seized and clutched at the heart and given it just the right amount of thrill to make everybody in the packed audience grip with delicious fear at cringe at the notions of a dying man leaving his brain and eye to science, a bed and breakfast owner with a side line in taxidermy and how to get revenge on a bully.
Among the actors on stage, who gave their creepiest, most eye popping performance, was the young Matthew Kennedy as the Narrator and the young Perkins. His quality of acting was beyond reproach as he stood tip to toe with the more established names that graced the stage with humour and poise as they traversed the intricateness of the subtle twists in the plot and one of the most inventive uses of the stage.
With its revolving nature and use of interesting props there wasn’t a facet that any member of the assembled crowd wouldn’t have loved and enjoyed.
Jeremy Dyson must be congratulated for his imagination and vision to take on one of Britain’s best loved authors stories and giving it a 21st century make over whilst remaining true to the original ideal.
A night out that will have you looking behind you as you talk on the train and have you slightly unsettled for many nights.
Ian D. Hall