Most of us can recall as a child being wary of a grumpy old relative, whom we tried to avoid at family gatherings. But none come close to Grandma in George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl's famous children's book. Now, the evil old lady and her family are coming to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, courtesy of the United Kingdom's Birmingham Stage Company.
At first, British actress Deborah Vale, 52, wasn't sure if she could play such a battleaxe. The character she'd played before Grandma (actor Rupert Everett's wife Constance in Amadeus, a British play about the famous composer) was "benign" in comparison.
“Grandma is completely horrible. Normally, as an actor, even a completely gruesome character still has a nice side. It was quite difficult working with our director, Phil Clark, to get people to believe that she really has no redeeming features at all. It’s tough to play that convincingly because, although the story is fantastical, she is also a real person.”
But Vale admits she ended up enjoying playing the villain, who gets her comeuppance when her grandson George tries to teach her a lesson by filling her medicine bottle with a vile concoction he brews from random ingredients that he finds around the family’s farm.
“It’s great because the audience hates you and I love seeing the children’s reactions,” says Vale, who hadn’t read the book until she was offered the part, but has a fondness for Dahl’s stories.
"You're very much on the side of the child, which is lovely. The adults in Roald Dahl's books are generally either horrible, like Grandma or the witches or Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, or they're neutral – like the mum in George's Marvellous Medicine. Dahl doesn't preach to children and that's why they love him."
Clark Devin, a 28-year-old Scottish actor who plays 8-year-old George, says: "George's Marvellous Medicine is a story about a child wanting to get his own back and I think anyone can relate to that."
Highlights of the 100-minute show include a giant chicken that chases the actors around the stage. But the scene that gets the most gasps is when Grandma first takes a sip of the medicine and starts to “grow”.
Devin confesses that, like George, he made experimental concoctions as a kid, although not with the intention of poisoning his “very lovely” grandma.
“I used to make ‘perfume’ out of mud, flowers and nettles and sell it in my ‘shop’. But when I put it on me I got a rash, so it didn’t go down very well. I am very short, so you never know, maybe there was magic in that concoction after all.”
Welsh theatre director Clark was charged with directing David Wood’s adaptation of the book for the stage. Wood made the decision to break the fourth wall and have George talk directly to the audience, so they’re included in the adventure. “You could say that this leads them towards responsibility, a theme that has always intrigued Dahl,” says Clark.
Of all the scenes, the mixing of the medicine was one that called for an innovative approach when bringing the story to life on stage. “There was always a danger that this could get repetitive, so we made an early decision to ensure that these sequences were participatory. The audience helps George make the medicine and shares in his excitement.”
But he refuses to give away how they make Grandma grow through the roof. “All I’m going to tell you is ... she does.”
• George’s Marvellous Medicine is at Abu Dhabi Theatre on Friday at 4pm. Tickets cost from Dh135 at timeouttickets.com or tickets.virginmegastore.me; and at Madinat Theatre, Dubai, from May 28 to 30; tickets available at www.madinattheatre.com
artslife@thenational.ae
