The Witches
wyndhams

STATESIDE TV comic and mouth-for-hire Ruby Wax has followed the path trodden by dozens of her countrymen in landing a lead role in the West End, as the Grand High Witch in this adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches.
Any adaptation of one of Dahl’s stories is going to have a hard job living up to the wonderful ways his stories unfold inside a child’s head.
David Wood’s adaptation of The Witches makes a good stab at it and, thanks to clever special effects and direction, this production conveys the magic created by Dahl.
She may not resemble the original Grand High Witch as created by illustrator Quentin Blake, but Wax fills her boots well and is as hilarious as she is nasty in her mission to rid the world of “rotten repulsive children”.
Sticking closely to the original story, a young boy and his grandma discover to their misfortune they are sharing their seaside hotel with a party of witches who have gathered for their annual meeting.
When he accidentally finds himself locked in the conference room with the witches, the boy (Giles Cooper) discovers their plot to turn all children into mice by injecting a magic potion into chocolate bars. He witnesses the transformation of their first victim, spoilt brat Bruno (Keith Saha), into a rodent, and almost manages to escape from their clawed clutches.
At the last minute one witch gets a waft of dog’s droppings –a sure sign to a witch that children are nearby – and his cover is blown.
There are no lucky close shaves in Dahl’s tales and the boy must spend the rest of his days as a mouse, but with the help of his understanding grandma (Dilys Laye), he takes revenge on the witches.
This production is not as dark as Dahl’s original, which was written with such conviction it read like a child’s manual for witch spotting.
This production will amuse parents and children alike and is worth a viewing for the clever special effects following the boys’ transformation into mice.

0870 060 6633
Until April 2