Advertisement
Stay in the Loop
BSR publishes on a weekly schedule, with an email newsletter every Wednesday and Thursday morning. There’s no paywall, and subscribing is always free.
Arden's 'BFG' (Big Friendly Giant)
A child's garden of neuroses
LEWIS WHITTINGTON
The fairy-tale writer Roald Dahl outdid the Brothers Grimm when it came to enchanted tales capable of frightening adults as well as kids. Dahl's ultimate childhood nightmares in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were just as unnerving as the creepy fantasies in Switch Bitch (which really was intended for adults).
Dahl’s BFG (Big Friendly Giant) casts deep dark shadows as its flesh-eating, bone-crushing, unmerciful giants stalk a child’s magical land of dreams and imaginary friendships. The creative team at the Arden Children’s Theatre, headed by the stage wizardry of director Whit MacLaughlin, brings Dahl's macabre world dazzlingly to the stage.
Based on the questions I heard kids asking after the show, some members of the young audience missed key plot points. But that didn’t prevent them from being completely captivated by the show. When Meatdripper, Gizzardgulper, Bloodbottler, Fleshlumpeater or Bonecruncher came on, they kept the kids on the edge of their seats.
The actors are uniformly excellent, many of them playing multiple parts and headed by the BFG himself, portrayed with every nuance by Peter Pryor, fresh off of his multi-layered performances in the Wilma Theater’s recent Pillowman and Lantern's Richard III. This time Pryor outdoes himself with the inventions of this lumbering, nimble-witted creature.
BFG appears as a hand-puppet, normal size and also (via stilt-hydrolics) a benevolent 12-foot monster dedicated to keeping the world safe from kid-snatching giants who bully him for being a vegan. BFG also speaks in his own wittle wanguage that many of the wittle kids in the audience instantly tuned into.
Maggie Lakis plays Sophie, the little girl who accidentally sees BFG and so must be taken by BFG to the Land of the Giants. Lakis handles the switches between the real girl and the puppet girl with ease. Kala Moses Baxter plays Margaret the maid to Catharine K. Slusar’s Queen of England with cartoon hilarity. Baxter excelled with haywire physical comedy, and she and Slusar nailed the comic blue-bloody accents.
Aaron Cromie’s puppet and mask designs and Jorge Cousineau’s sound elements were all first-rate. Lewis Folden’s sets accommodated scale changes with a labyrinth of cockeyed shelves, vaudevillian out-sized props and trap doors. When different perspectives of Buckingham Palace appeared simultaneously, the effect was pure stage magic for all us kids. And there wasn’t a play station in sight.
LEWIS WHITTINGTON
The fairy-tale writer Roald Dahl outdid the Brothers Grimm when it came to enchanted tales capable of frightening adults as well as kids. Dahl's ultimate childhood nightmares in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were just as unnerving as the creepy fantasies in Switch Bitch (which really was intended for adults).
Dahl’s BFG (Big Friendly Giant) casts deep dark shadows as its flesh-eating, bone-crushing, unmerciful giants stalk a child’s magical land of dreams and imaginary friendships. The creative team at the Arden Children’s Theatre, headed by the stage wizardry of director Whit MacLaughlin, brings Dahl's macabre world dazzlingly to the stage.
Based on the questions I heard kids asking after the show, some members of the young audience missed key plot points. But that didn’t prevent them from being completely captivated by the show. When Meatdripper, Gizzardgulper, Bloodbottler, Fleshlumpeater or Bonecruncher came on, they kept the kids on the edge of their seats.
The actors are uniformly excellent, many of them playing multiple parts and headed by the BFG himself, portrayed with every nuance by Peter Pryor, fresh off of his multi-layered performances in the Wilma Theater’s recent Pillowman and Lantern's Richard III. This time Pryor outdoes himself with the inventions of this lumbering, nimble-witted creature.
BFG appears as a hand-puppet, normal size and also (via stilt-hydrolics) a benevolent 12-foot monster dedicated to keeping the world safe from kid-snatching giants who bully him for being a vegan. BFG also speaks in his own wittle wanguage that many of the wittle kids in the audience instantly tuned into.
Maggie Lakis plays Sophie, the little girl who accidentally sees BFG and so must be taken by BFG to the Land of the Giants. Lakis handles the switches between the real girl and the puppet girl with ease. Kala Moses Baxter plays Margaret the maid to Catharine K. Slusar’s Queen of England with cartoon hilarity. Baxter excelled with haywire physical comedy, and she and Slusar nailed the comic blue-bloody accents.
Aaron Cromie’s puppet and mask designs and Jorge Cousineau’s sound elements were all first-rate. Lewis Folden’s sets accommodated scale changes with a labyrinth of cockeyed shelves, vaudevillian out-sized props and trap doors. When different perspectives of Buckingham Palace appeared simultaneously, the effect was pure stage magic for all us kids. And there wasn’t a play station in sight.
Sign up for our newsletter
All of the week's new articles, all in one place. Sign up for the free weekly BSR newsletters, and don't miss a conversation.
