Hall for Cornwall, Truro – until Sunday 30 June 2024
Reviewed by Kerry Gilbert
4****
“Plenty of imagination and humour in this production which will appeal to children of all ages – and their respective adults!”
The bestselling children’s author David Williams and the award-winning Birmingham Stage Company have teamed up for a brand new production of the family adventure Awful Auntie.
This is the first time I’ve witnessed anything by David Walliams, and it didn’t disappoint! This production has it all, a ghost, car chase, and a killer owl, not to mention very talented actors and puppets! Awful Auntie features a host of much loved characters who are brought to larger than life in this laughter ridden stage version. The dark nature of the show is lightened with humour, a lot of which comes from Gibbons (Zain Abrahams), a wonderful butler that is so dizzy he provides laughs every time he is on stage, usually doing something to entertain as the moving set is changed to the next position. Be prepared for jokes about farting, weeing and being fed regurgitated owl food and other child friendly humour. There’s nothing like the talk of bottoms and farts to get the children giggling, everything you would expect from David Walliams.
I won’t give too much away if you haven’t read the book, but as a quick taste of the plot I can tell you that Stella Saxby (Annie Cordoni), is a 12 year old heir to a manor house Saxby Hall, who sets off to London with her parents, only to wake 3 months later with her Aunt Alberta (Neal Foster) looking after her. Nothing is as it seems, and Stella must become Sherlock Holmes to discover what happened and she ends up in a fight for her life against her own Awful Auntie. Together with resident ghost Soot (Matthew Allen) she regains what’s rightfully hers and saves her life.
Jacqueline Trousdale’s wonderful set is Saxby Hall which revolves to take the characters and audience into different rooms while also providing a backdrop for events on the roof and in the gardens.
The performance was adapted by Neal Foster and the production also features a host of wonderful puppets designed and directed by Yvonne Stone. The use of the puppets was fantastic, to show the more perilous aspects of the story, and was very charming and captivating. The smaller members of the audience eyes lit up watching them hanging from the roof. Emily Essery plays Wagner, the puppet Owl who is Aunt Alberta’s pet – and helps her keep a beady eye on Stella. Yvonne Stone has also created smaller puppet versions of the characters so that the external action can take place alongside the same set.
This is a very funny play with humour, suspense and impressive stagecraft which makes this production a standout that will appeal to all ages in the audience.