Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts by Roald Dahl.
Directed by Ross Balbuziente. Designer Josh Macintosh. Lighting Designer Jason Glenwright. Sound Designer Guy Webster. Featuring Leon Cain, Judy Hainsworth, Nelle Lee and Nick Skubij. Shake and Stir Theatre Company. The Playhouse. Canberra Theatre Centre. July 3-6 2019
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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Leon Cain, Nick Skubij and Judy Hainsworth
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Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts
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Well, I really have to say that
Shake and Stir Theatre Company blew me away.
They’re the perfect lot to take Roald Dahl from the page and put Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts upon
the stage. They’re clever, so witty and
silly as well and will have you in stitches with the stories they tell. They
stick to the script and follow the rhyme turning traditional tales upside down
and around.
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Leon Cain, Nick Skubij and Judy Hainsworth
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Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts
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On a circular sphere that turns on a revolve with trapdoors and
windows and props on the side they take their audience on a magical ride throwing
fairy tale stereotypes aside far and wide. Cinderella slays the prince to marry a jam
maker, and that’s not the only stereotype shaker. Goldilocks (Nelle Lee) comes
to sup and in the end gets gobbled up. As for Little Red Riding Hood (Judy Hainsworth), she needs no male
wood-chopper to lop off the wolf’s head. She knows how to aim straight and shoot
him instead. Topsy-turvy versions of other familiar fairy stories are
interspersed with Dirty Beasts tales equally gory, There’s the toad (Nick Skubij)
that transforms into a Roley Poley Bird
and a snail and porcupine quills in a
little girls’ bum make her wail. But wait there’s even more in store, even more
shocking with even more gore. There’s the pig that gets his revenge by eating
the farmer (Leon Cain) from top to toe while the young and old audience laugh
at Dahl’s horror show. No need for psycho-analysis here. This is not Grimm.
There’s no need to fear. Dahl took nothing seriously, so I am told, and nor
will the kids with these tales as they’re told.
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| Nelle Lee in Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts |
But it’s not all blood and gore
and a touch of the macabre. There’s plenty of humour and abundant laughter. Wouldn’t
we all like a mirror on the wall that could predict Mistletoe’s win for a hefty
windfall? But there’s no denying that Shake and Stir stay true to Dahl’s
story, acting out the narrated rhyme in all its glory. There’s no tampering
with the verse, or what would be worse, a performance by actors not so
well-rehearsed. The show is slick, and bouncy bright, with director Ross
Balbuziente keeping it tight on Josh Macintosh’s brilliant design that’s not
too gaudy, not too spekky but just right. With spectacular lighting by Jason
Glenwright action and colour create a fabulous sight while Guy Webster’s sound
design lends a lighter mood to Dahl’s darker moments of fright.
This is a show that shakes and
stirs convention, breathing life into a child’s imagination, and like Dahl whose
stories changed the rules in fairy stories, chocolate factories and schools
Shake and Stir Theatre Company reminds us of the possibility that lies behind
the wall of conformity. And when all is said and done, Shake and Stir remind us
that entering into Roald Dahl’s world of Revolting
Rhymes and Dirty Beasts is just good fun.
