David Walliams is now a well-known author and his children’s books have become infamous for their comedy and down-to-earth themes; he is probably classed as one of the most contemporary influential writers of children’s books at the present time, his characters are both endearing and outrageous whilst he also touches on the plights of unhappy and unloved children and their escapades.
Demon Dentist is a stage adaptation of his latest book following on from Gangsta Granny and Billionaire Boy. This production is directed and adapted by Neal Foster of the Birmingham Stage Company.
This story centres on Alfie (Sam Varley), a boy who has cared for his disabled dad since his mum passed away. After an unpleasant experience at the dentist six years prior to where this story begins, Alfie is in fear of dentists and he’s never been back since. Social worker, Winnie (Misha Malcolm) visits Alfie and his dad and encourages Alfie to go and see new dentist Miss Root (Emily Harrigan) as his teeth are in need of attention. Also, the Headteacher of Alfie’s school (Zain Abrahams) invites Miss Root to speak about dental hygiene at the school assembly thus starting the adventure.
Strange things start happening in the town since new dentist, Miss Root has arrived; children are leaving their teeth for the tooth fairy at bedtime and waking up to find grisly things under their pillows instead of the coins they were expecting. Alfie and best friend, Gabz (Georgia Grant-Anderson) are determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.
This story moves along at a suitable pace, essential for younger audiences, with childish toilet humour and flatulence sound effects, which they also love, larger-than-life characters and panto-esque sequences; musical interludes are delivered throughout with many songs performed by talented Sam Varley (Alfie) who has a major part in the production appearing in nearly every scene with many costume changes throughout. Affectionate and emotive scenes between Alfie and his dad (Neal Foster) are endearing and Zain Abrahams as Raj, the shopkeeper and school headmaster is over-the-top comically, he is almost like a cartoon character, who the audience took affection to. Alfie determinedly states throughout that Gabz is “not my girlfriend” maybe a little too often, but of course they end up together eventually.
Emily Harrigan plays the unconventional dentist, Miss Root expertly with just the right amount of wickedness and terror to capture the interest of the audience it is intended for, (children aged eleven years and over), although there were younger children in the audience whose attention span was too short for this production, thus there was a lot of chattering and noise throughout. Emily has an excellent singing voice and holds attention in each of the scenes she appeared in. She may have been a little too frightening for some of the younger members of the audience and the inclusion in the story of her asking the children to call her “Mummy” is perhaps going a bit too far and over-the-top for the age group level of audience it is intended for.
Sliding sections of scenery with multi-functional doors enabled fast scene changes and clever lighting depicting night and day was utilised along with imaginative use of props and sound effects with loud explosions and dazzling lighting, all adding to the overall appeal of the show.
The show may put a lot of children off going to the dentist but overall, it is a fun production with a happy ending; it includes adventure and mystery plus dark humour to keep young theatre goers riveted to their seats and a few scary moments when they jumped out of them.
The production is at Liverpool Empire theatre until 29th April 2023. https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/liverpool-empire/
Reviewer: Anne Pritchard
Reviewed: 27th April 2023
North West End UK Rating: ★★★★