• The Twits runs until September 3, 2011

Delightfully gross tour de force

The Twits, by Roald Dahl Adapted by David Wood

Directed by Lisa Norriss. Theatre Alive/Body in Space Theatre Royal Friday August 26, 2011

Nelson Mail – August 27, 2011 Reviewed by Judith Paviell

Warning: don’t wear smelly shoes if you go to this show. That’s all I’ll say. Otherwise anything revolting is allowed – on stage, that is.

Yes, Mr. & Mrs. Twit do some very revolting things, so be prepared to be shocked. It’s also probably best not to have spaghetti for dinner beforehand.

Why, then, if this show is so revolting, did the 10-year-olds next to me say that it was “awesome”? Because it is.

They said, too, that in the book version the awful Twits live in a brick house, but here they live in a caravan as part of the clever circus-style set that includes a cage for the Mugglewump family and the essential old tree.

Roger Sanders excels as circus ringmaster-cum-storyteller. His and Bridget Sanders’ brilliant musical sound effects, along with impressive lighting, evoke instant scene and atmosphere change, like drumming up the jungle where the Mugglewumps were captured.

Damara Sylvester is a stunningly exotic presence as Roly Poly Bird, shimmying down to the stage in breath-taking acrobatic moves.

A very hairy, gravel-voiced Daniel Allan and Hazel Twissell play nasty pranksters Mr. & Mrs. Twit with much aplomb, as if they relish the chance to be officially horrible. Timing is everything in theatre like this, and they barely miss a hilarious beat.

The five Mugglewump monkeys do a great job trying to be upside down and make believable monkey noises. Especially impressive was the youngest, Xan Twissell, who spent much time hanging upside down from the cage roof! The five young people in charge of the birds were terrific too, making appropriate tweets on cue.

I wondered if the Twits got the idea to catch birds with glue from the person who used it on the Harvey Norman building recently, but maybe it was the other way round. Boo indeed.

This is the first time the two theatre companies have joined forces, and the result is a smooth, professional, bright, utterly appealing production at a child friendly length.

You probably need to watch out for more pranks being played around Nelson in the next week or so, by grown-ups as much as kids, ‘cos they all had huge fun, too. They’re probably scheming now. You have been warned.

The Twits runs until September 3.