For Nelle Lee, the Artistic Director of Shake & Stir Theatre Co., Roald Dahl is an old friend.
A huge fan since childhood, Nelle understands first-hand the enduring appeal of Dahl's works, an appeal she endeavours to bring forth in her adaptation of his novel, 'George's Marvellous Medicine'.
“He creates characters that are so relatable, especially to kids. A lot of his stories start off a little bit domestic, and then they go into this fantastical magical world,” she says.
After Shake & Stir's successful tour of 'Revolting Rhymes And Dirty Beasts', Nelle chose this novel for another re-imagining, knowing that the tale of George, the boy who “mixes his medicine together and defeats his cranky grandma” would “adapt really well to stage.”
Though careful not to give too much away, Nelle teases the play's frightening special effects will “get kids squirming in their seats.” While Nelle did worry the play might be too scary for children, she ultimately decided that her audience were mature enough to handle the story's many terrifying transformations."Roald Dahl works so well because his stories are a little bit dark. Kids love to be scared. They have a very simple way of looking at the world, but they're not stupid. So we want to make sure that our work is really honest. We don't talk down to our audience, we encourage them to come in and engage on the same level as the performers. It's about that balance, making sure they're excited, but we're not scaring so much they want to get out of the theatre.”
Roald Dahl, though a prolific writer, wrote only one stage play, 'Honey', a bloody tale of two women who murder their husbands. Creative disputes with the director coupled with the play's poor showing made him decide to stick to writing stories from then on. Nelle believes the notoriously cranky Dahl would think more of her own play. "The reason we do Dahl is because we love the stories, so we don't want to change them too much. We pushed for keeping the integrity of the characters and story and the through-line that he was trying to go for in his actual novel. So I think he would approve, it's keeping very close to his novel."
Many of Dahl's stories feature children combating cruel or incompetent adults, and 'George's Marvellous Medicine' is no exception. While some parents in the audience might despair of the play encouraging their children to rebel even more, Nelle isn't worried. "I think Dahl's very clever in the way that he writes. He vilifies adult characters in such a quirky, creative way that you actually kind of love to hate them." Reasoning that "the book hasn't been taken off shelves." Nelle is confident that parents will understand that the story is “not about children disobeying adults, it's about children being creative in the way they deal with problems.”Nelle hopes that 'George's Marvellous Medicine' will be an opportunity for grown-up Dahl fans to introduce a new generation of children to the stories they once enjoyed. Those grown ups will also be delighted to hear that the play's visual design "pays homage to [illustrator] Quentin Blake's designs, but we keep it original as well."
Nelle is adamant that children's theatre "has to be entertaining for parents as well. There are going to be in-jokes for adults and silly jokes for kids, but if the work is quality and comes from an honest place, it should be enjoyable for all ages."
'George's Marvellous Medicine' plays Queensland Performing Arts Centre, 6-23 January.
