Roald Dahl's Marvelous Medicine coming to Birmingham's New Alexandra Theatre
He passed away more than 25 years ago, but Roald Dahl remains Britain's favourite children's writer.
His books have sold an astonishing 250 million copies worldwide and The Times placed him 16th on their list of Great British Writers since 1945.
Among his most popular works were James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, The Twits and George's Marvellous Medicine – all books that mean so much to children everywhere with their ability to shock, frighten and delight in equal measure.
And George's Marvellous Medicine will be brought to the stage at Birmingham's New Alexandra Theatre from Tuesday until November 26 by the Birmingham Stage Company.
It has been adapted by David Wood and features Dahl's amazing story about a young boy who makes a marvellous new medicine to cure his grandmother of her terrifying temper.
But when his grandmother drinks his special new potion, the most incredible things start to happen. And George's adventure has just begun.
George's Marvellous Medicine is one of Dahl's funniest and most exciting stories. It follows Birmingham Stage Company's acclaimed productions of Horrible Histories, Why The Whales Came and Danny The Champion of The World – another Roald creation.
Writer Wood said he was delighted to work on the piece, which is his eighth Roald Dahl adaptation.
He said: "It's been on tour before and it's coming back. It's just doing a number of weeks. I'm hoping it will be as successful as before.
"I think it's an interesting one really because it's not one of the big titles, like BFG or James and the Giant Peach.
"One tends to think of them as the big ones but this has a great appeal partly because George is being quite naughty in a way and there is a subversive element, as there is in many Dahl stories.
"What interested me is the fact that the grandmother, who disappears quite magically by the end of the play, is extraordinary. She's a grandmother who is particularly annoying and he tries to make her nicer. His medicine is not to kill her off, it's to improve her. But it has strange consequences to do with scale as she grows." Wood says the audience at New Alexandra Theatre will be almost like a football match as youngsters get into the action.
They will shout and scream their support for the lead character, warning him of any danger. He loves working with Roald Dahl stories, having first adapted The BFG 25 years ago.
"I have grown to admire very much his storytelling skills over the years. He knew what he was doing in the sense that the children he was writing for understood the sort of ingredients that he should put in to make them interested enough to follow the story through and enjoy it.
"He's very, very good at baddies too. He creates these characters and they are rather like the baddies in a good panto. The best villains are ones you love to hate, rather than just hate. There is an enjoyment in the baddies, it doesn't soften the baddies but it makes them figures of ridicule.
"He was also good at magic and fantasy situations, so you get a thing like the spell in George or like the action in James and the Giant Peach.
"I try to make it clear so that the children stay engaged. They can't find it boring. The characters are so strong that they come straight off the page.
"They are stories of life and death, as well. George is almost killing his grandmother off," he added.
