Storyhouse Live, Chester – until Saturday 14th 2018
Reviewed by Julie Noller
***** (5 stars)
Birmingham Stage Company celebrate their 25th Anniversary by bringing a much loved modern childrens classic to life. David Walliams has seen his popularity change in the last ten years from that of comedic actor, to reality judge to global bestselling childrens author. Book sales have exceeded twenty three million with his books translated into fifty three languages, as my daughter commented she can’t think of fifty three languages. In 2011 Gangsta Granny was his fourth book to be published.
I had read Gangsta Granny; sadly my children were more interested in reading books for themselves and so I resorted to sneakily reading once they had finished. I was keen to see if the madcap humor would be transferred from page to stage. Neal Foster has done a sterling job in adapting and directing Gangsta Granny and through his steady hands we see not only the silliness but also the humanity and moral essence that David Walliams hoped children would see. Jacqueline Trousdale brings a quirky and fast moving set alive, there’s spining buildings and beds that cleverly can be hidden away, shop shelves that seam to just appear.
When we think of our Granny, we are as guilty as Ben was. Time spent with Granny can quite often be a chore and boring, with a capital B. Grannys are frail, double layers of cardigans because they are always cold and theres there’s cabbage. Why does it not surprise me that Granny loves cabbage, she smells of cabbage, and we all know what cabbage does to us. We hear the noises, we know everyone who has eaten cabbage farts but the delighted squeals from our younger and not so younger audience members, makes even the most sensible adult giggle. Ben played with brilliant over exageration by Tom Cawte is very nearly 12, he doesn’t want to be little Benny any more, he wants to be a plumber. He unlike any other child I know hates Fridays because Fridays mean cabbage and Granny. Why does he have to go to Grannys? Because Mum, Jenny Gayner who I have to say wow she can certainly kick those legs high and lets not mention the splits, and Dad, Jason Furnival, are massive fans of the glitterball and Strictly Come Dancing. Fridays are dance nights and when Ben telephones them to rescue him from the torture of scrabble with Granny, well he is confronted by the fact Mum is more wrapped up in her life and meeting Flavio the Latin God of the dance floor. Granny pulls at our heart strings and informs Ben that Fridays are the highlight of her week, that she lives for his visits, even if no one else visits her; not even his parents. It is Raj the local shopkeeper a warm and funny Aosaf Afzal who opens Bens eyes to the possibility that Granny may just be someone special. Granny herself is portrayed by the wonderful Louise Bailey and the transformation is amazing. Granny is an extremely comic character and I loved watching Granny’s scooter used as a getaway vehicle, surely we could walk faster?
We all think because our Granny is so old she doesn’t know when we sneak an extra biscuit from the tin. What we don’t realise is Granny sneaks extra biscuits in there every week just for us to sneak. Only what Ben finds in the biscuit tin is a little too shiny for biscuits and as Granny delights comes with lots of elaborate stories. Including little scenarios for us the audience to follow in appropriate Walliams silly fashion. Ben himself starts to come alive and through his enthusiasm Granny finds a love of life. They are undetered by nosy Mr Parker (Jason Furnival) whilst talking jewels, upon his knocking on the door with Ben saying Granny is doing naked Yoga. Poor Granny resorts to attempting yoga in her bloomers, hillarious. Alas Mr Parker fast becomes the pantomime villain and manages plenty of boos. He sticks his nose into everyones business as leader of the local neighbourhood watch with 2 and 2 adding upto 10 for him. Cheers ring out all round as the policemen tell him he should be a better a neighbour and actually do some good for a change. Ben with Granny’s encouragement pays more attention at school, if only to discover insider information on the Tower of London.
But Granny’s message is there nevertheless Ben you can be who ever you want to be, you are intelligent and I love you. Ben believes the stories of his cool Gangsta Granny who is great at rapping – the scene is one of the highlights. He covers for wanting to visit Granny more by telling his delighted parents he wishes to dance, you know it will end badly when they enter him into a competition. The very camp Flavio (Aosaf Afzal) is our compare and his mispronunciation of some pretty basic words has those old enough to understand in the audience howling. Ben wins simply by being the only boy, guaranteed clapping by us the audience. It is not a terribly British play or story involving The Tower of London if we don’t see the Queen, who stops the attempt to steal the Crown Jewels and pardons our two heroes. We also discover Granny was spinning a yarn, the biscuit tin jewels are glass, worthless. The Queen feels empathy for Granny both feel overlooked by their grandchildren. However isn’t it amazing that the Queen loves cabbage soup.
I was concerned how Granny’s demise would transfer to the stage and would it upset young children, I needn’t have worried, it was wonderfully touching and Granny left in her wheelchair waving to Ben. Sadly Granny was no more. We are now at the end of the play. Ben has a new black cat as a pet, a very unrealistic but brilliant puppet who has moving arms and no doubt thumbs. Raj has a newspaper in which it comes to light that an undisclosed amount of priceless jewels were donated to a charity shop. We start to wonder that maybe Granny really was a Gangsta. Finally it’s Christmas Day and 3pm means it’s time for the Queens speech. I heard lots of young gasps as she leaves the television set to lead the cast in a dance. The Moral of Gangsta Granny, just because you’re old doesn’t mean you can’t. We should never forget our Granny’s were young once and they deserve to have fun too. So why not treat your Granny to a fun filled adventure even if that adventure is break dancing with you. Young and old will delight in this tale full of silliness and fun. Take your Granny to see that spending time together isn’t a chore.