JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH Dahl/Wood. Sherman Theatre to 12 January.

Cardiff

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH
by Roald Dahl. Adapted by David Wood

Sherman Theatre, Cardiff To 12 January 2002
Runs 1hr 45min One interval

TICKETS 029 2064 6900
Review Timothy Ramsden 15 December

High-energy time at the Sherman with a show that has real youth appeal.I admit to being a Dahl-a-phobe. My limited acquaintance with his children's books finds them lacking in style, plot and character. Yet no author has had TV age eyes more glued to books and only the arrival of Harry Potter might change that. Am I right? Can millions of young readers be wrong? Do I have a sense of right and wrong?

Anyway, the prospect of a double dose of Dahl at the Sherman (with The Enormous Crocodile for 3-6s in the studio during December) seemed like my nightmare before Christmas. Would I skulk miserably back over the Severn bridge, leaving happy Cardiff theatregoers behind me?

David Wood's adaptation (hitting the road during 2002 in a separate, Birmingham production) didn't cure me or clear my eyes, though I had a whale of a time at Phil Clark's production. It's staged like a rock concert. Sean Crowley's set places the enormous splodge of titular fruit in the embrace of a two-deck metallic frame, surrounded by a revolving platform. When this is decked with black fins James and his insect friends seem besieged by a tribe of hungry sharks.

It's a staging that resembles a rock set design and allows James' unhappy time with horrid relatives to take place on the fringes before he jumps aboard his peachy heaven to bounce, bob and fly to New York.

Clark's company plays well, both in acting and musical terms. Many speeches are delivered with a musical instrument in hand, to be turned to when there's the next song to be accompanied. One moment's instrumentalist is the next moment's Caterpillar, Spider etc.

There's a lot of amplification; this is a loud, raucous show. But it races along, giving no time to consider the plot thinness by the simple means of having a ball with every moment. The set's useful here too, allowing plenty of scampering around, and calling across spaces. Every aspect of the show is adrenaline-fuelling and the whole a Christmas gig that deserves its enthusiastic responses. To be causing serious standing ovations from school audiences, as this seems to have been doing, shows someone at the Sherman's got it right.

James: Ryland Teifi
Ladybird: Lucy Rivers
Earthworm: Gareth Wyn Griffiths
Centipede: Simon Thorne
Grasshopper: Matthew Bailey
Silkworm: Nick Evans
Spider: Bethan Morgan
Gloworm: Matk O'Connor

Young Cast: Sejal Bhatt, Jeni Calnan, Jennifer Drage, Laura Drage, William Evans, Lucy Evans, Sarah Glover, Adam King, Tess Lewis, Claudia Medina, Madeleine Morgan, Louise Poolman/Branwen Bennell, Stephen Colbourne, Sophie Gamlin, Daisy-Alys Langrish, Penny Lloyd-Williams, Adele MacGregor, Natasha Peets, Iasn Rawle, Kathryn Richards, Elisha Robinson, Hannah Stoate

Director: Phil Clark
Musical Director: Paula Gardiner
Designer: Sean Crowley
Lighting: Ceri James

2001-12-17 07:15:42