Past Productions
Gilly's Gem + Ernie's Incredible Illucinations
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Under Milk Wood - Dylan Thomas
page last updated 27/01/2012
Directors'
Notes
The thing about being director is that each show is different; each show presents different challenges. Of course Roald Dahl does make it easy with his wonderful sense of horrible fun; he can be so satisfyingly gross, just watch out for the spaghetti scene. Roald Dahl appeals to all ages Most kids know and enjoy him just as their parents and grandparents still do. Nowadays just about everybody has grown up with his stories. Of course this is not our first Roald Dahl; in 2007 we did 'James and the Giant Peach'. That was so much fun for cast and audience that it is clearly time we did another So here we have it - the one and only, thank goodness .... The Twits.
Mr and Mrs Twit are a very
happy couple; but not at the same time. Each one is only happy when playing some awful
trick on the other, which allows playwright David Woods wonderful scope for
colour, action and slapstick in his portrayal of these daftly dreadful people.
The plot isn't difficult.
When Mt Twit goes to Africa he captures a family of playful monkeys and
tries to make them perform tricks. But the monkeys pine for their home in the
jungle and try to escape from the Twits cruel
mistreatment.
This is a Roald Dahl story
so there is a clear distinction between the goodies, the monkeys, and the
baddies, The Twits. As so often with Roald Dahl, the heroes are children. As in
Matilda, Charlie (and the Chocolate Factory), George ('s Marvelous Medicine),
James (and the Giant Peach) or animals, as in Fantastic Mr Fox or here,
the monkey Muggle-Wumps in The Twits. The villains
are always grotesque grown-ups, which is one reason why Roald Dahl's stories appeal so much
to kids.
Like all Roald Dahl stories
which are written for kids, they appeal equally to grown-ups. On one level The
Twits is a story of how a pair of outrageous nasties gets their comeuppance and
their victims live happily ever after, but on another level it is a tale of
heartless ignorance, greed and exploitation.
I'd like to say a special
thanks to my wife Chris and Ken Cumberpatch for their hard work on the props and
special thanks to Mandy for her choreography sessions. In this production I've tried to blend a show that draws heavily on pantomime with
just a hint of circus. We've had enormous fun rehearsing it, I hope that you
have fun too.
Mr Twit
Andrew Cook
Mrs Twit
Lindsey Parr
Narrator
Richard Turner
Muggle-Wump
Richard Kinnaird
Mrs Muggle-Wump Helen Cooper
Little Muggle-Wump 1 Alicia Bailey
Little Muggle-Wump 2 Lucas Wilcock
Little Muggle-Wump 3 Natalie
Wells
The Roly-Poly Bird John Birch
The Birds
Julie Cox & Daniel Barrow
