Giant role at Rep for actor Anthony
Actor Anthony Pedley has come a long way since he first started treading the boards at King Edward VI School in Lichfield.
The Cannock-born stage star has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and played band manager Sonny Letts in Crossroads. But this week he is bringing to life one of Roald Dahl's best loved characters - the BFG.
The show runs at the Birmingham Rep until Saturday and sees Anthony step inside a 16ft fibreglass giant and indulge in some "whizzpopping" and "scrumdidiliumtious" family fun.
"It is an excellent role to play, such a lot of fun," he said.
"The affect of the giant is all done on scale. In the first half of the play I am my normal size and the character of Sophie is a puppet. But in the second half I have to wear this enormously heavy costume. I have a calliper on my leg to operate the mouth and I wear a crash helmet with an enormous long pole up to the top of the model so I can move the head around."
Anthony, who is now 64, grew up in Cannock and was head boy at the Lichfield private school in 1963.
He added: "The two previous head boys had gone on to Oxford and Cambridge and I was panicking a bit because I didn't have those plans. But I managed to get a place at RADA, which has always been one of the most famous of the drama schools, and I think that appeased the headteacher." He now lives in Essex but keenly remembers his Midland roots. He discovered his love for acting as part of the Lichfield Amateur Dramatics society and learnt the craft at Walsall's former technical college, where he was given speech training.
The BFG, or the Big Friendly Giant, is a story of friendship between the giant and a little girl Sophie.
It is a role Anthony has been acting on and off for 18 years and one he has come to love.
He added: "The language is absolutely lovely, the whizz popping and snoz cumbers, then there's frog spottle which is a nice one and my absolute favourite is switchfiddlin. I think that's a great word."
