In 1983, weeks before Roald Dahl’s new book ‘The Witches’ is to be released, a fury is coming back round to question and confront Dahl’s recent book review in which he comments on Tony Clifton’s ‘God Cried’ picture book. This review sparked a huge amount of controversy and corrupted Dahl’s sweet and humorous image. In this imagined piece, Mark Rosenblatt creates a fictitious afternoon in which Dahl’s publicists are pushing for an apology for his review. John Lithgow as a superbly complex Dahl is adamant on standing by his beliefs no matter the consequences to who might cull his books from the shelves.
Rosenblatt comments that this piece although fictitious, has intertwined verbatim comments made from Dahl on this matter. As our current day viewers are now confronted with the long history surrounding Isreal and Palestine we see our impossible dilemma. It is such a complex puzzle of humanity, politics, race and religion but what we explore here is a group of people- some with no involvement and some with personal history of war and escaping Nazi Germany all in one room trying to resolve the damage Dahl has done.
We are brought into a house under construction; walls shredded, beams bare and Dahl frustratingly working alongside the drilling disruptions. His UK publicist Tom Maschler (Elliot Levey) has organised a meeting with their US publicist team in order to make an apology. Jessie Stone (Romola Garai) is warned of his temper, his aggravating humour and eagerness to push buttons but she is ready to calm the beast. Felicity Crosland (Rachael Stirling) Dahl’s new wife is an anchor, and a peace call for the room, although coming into his life as a secret she is now dominating and proud to be his fiancé but struggles to justify his behaviour and opinion. To break the very tense moments the lovely housemaid Hallie (Tessa Bonham Jones) finds ways to lift our spirits through her short answers and independence of thought.
The actors are truly a force, this would never be an easy piece to bring forward and especially of late, so their fire and fierceness was incredibly powerful. The first act was slick and shocking bringing us into an interval at the rapid downfall of Dahl’s authority. Act 2 brought us back into the drama to discuss the truths that had been revealed, complex and never-ending. It was impossible to be distracted by thought when a piece with such relevance and impact on daily life is thrown onto a stage to discuss. I really commend the Royal Court for confronting this issue head on and only wish for more bravery when it comes to surrounding this subject as it is unwise for us to bury our heads in the sand- no matter how uncomfortable.
Controversial by nature, complex and shocking. I’m very glad to have seen this piece and I’m sure it will get many people talking.
Playing until 16th November, https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/giant/
Reviewer: Alice Rose
Reviewed: 27th September 2024
North West End UK Rating: