Roahl Dahl for primary: ‘Great things often start off small’
Aimee McGoldrick
Friday, September 1, 2023
Amazed by the range and quality of Roald Dahl stories being rekindled and reproduced, Aimee McGoldrick gives us a recap on the magical primary productions to come.
Manuel Harlan
If you were asked to name your top 10 children's authors of all time it would be fair assumption that Roald Dahl would make the shortlist for many. With 49 books written in his lifetime and many of those titles since made into musicals, plays and films, one may wonder how the stories remain relevant to children today. But he certainly still is: with over 300 million books sold worldwide, it's clear he is still a firm favourite in households around the globe.
With the knowledge of how popular these stories remain, The Roald Dahl Story Company have announced their plans to produce three new Roald Dahl theatre productions: The Enormous Crocodile, The Magic Finger and a large-scale circus. These productions join a major new musical of The Witches, co-produced by the National Theatre, so children across the country will be able to access the live theatrical versions of his stories.
The Roald Dahl Story Company
The new theatre division of RoaldDahl.com was set up to create original pieces of theatre which capture the timeless appeal of the writer, whose work has stood the test of time. Led by artistic director Jenny Worton and executive producer Anna Schmitz, the division was set up in 2018, working with world-class artists and theatre producers to recreate Dahl's famous stories on stage. On the project, Schmitz and Worton said: ‘Far beyond simply putting the book on stage, we want to create original pieces of theatre, which both capture the timeless appeal, characters and spirit of Roald Dahl stories and speak powerfully to today's audiences.’
The productions
The Enormous Crocodile will be a new musical production for those aged four and above. In typical Roald Dahl style, the story is about an animal who is ‘in search of delicious little fingers and squidgy podgy knees…. a nice juicy little child!’ The new contemporary musical combines puppetry and music to keep its audiences glued to their seats. With a talented team of creators performing at The Leeds Playhouse and Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, the show is sure to be a huge success.
Following this, there has also been the wonderful announcement that The Magic Finger, a co-production with the Union Theatre, will be presented as a theatrical reading for online release. This will be free for schools and families from spring 2024. The Magic Finger tells the tale of the Greg family (a family of hunters), and their eight-year-old neighbour who cannot stand hunting. The neighbour becomes so angry about the feud, that he decides to set ‘the magic finger’ on them all.
A circus inspired by the stories of Roald Dahl is also in development. The theatre division is currently working on a way in which to combine our favourite Dahl characters into a large-scale circus-style performance. Working with the Roald Dahl Story Company to bring this elaborate idea to life is Olivier Award-winning director Polly Findlay and the team behind circus spectacle Cirque Bijou. They'll be joined by Stephen Long and Iain Sharkey, the minds behind many of Derren Brown's TV and stage illusions.
Finally, from a book, to a play script, and now a film! The Witches has been turned into a rip-roaring musical, arriving at the National Theatre in November. The show claims, ‘everything you know about witches is wrong. Forget the pointy hats and broomsticks: they're the most dangerous creatures on earth. And now they've come up with their most evil plan yet’.
Roald Dahl for the future
With the company planning to create animated and live-action films and TV, publishing, live theatre, immersive experiences and games, the group seems set on making sure that Roald Dahl stays in the hearts of children for years to come. It plans to do this by giving children a realistic, un-sugar-coated view of the world, while showing them the power of kindness and the possibility that they all must shape their own wonky story.
The Enormous Crocodile will be performed between 2 December 2023 to 6 January 2024 in Leeds before heading over to Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in summer 2024
The Magic Finger will be released online for free to schools and families across the UK and beyond from spring 2024The Witches runs from 7 November 2023 to 6 January 2024.
