Under the general heading of A World of Roald Dahl, The Phoenix Youth Theatre with the Courtyard Youth Theatre,  provided  a performance of adapted versions of The BFG and The Witches, together with songs from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda. Such is the size of membership of Phoenix Youth, that the four performances were split between two teams.

To get us all in the mood, the performance opened with the cast singing ‘Pure Imagination’, followed by Act 1 ‘The BFG’, which revolved around Sophie who finds herself taken to the Land of the Giants where her main purpose became helping the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) to stop the bad giants and their wicked ways.  The two main roles of Sophie and the BFG were taken by Seren Williams and Paisley Comrie-Bowcott who both spoke up clearly and led the way. We see how dreams are caught in a jar and a dream fit for a Queen is presented. The Queen of England was well handled by Emilia Mayo and so too was the Queen of Denmark we met later, played by Amelie Gooch with a great accent.

Mary was very convincingly played by Polina Drobotun and eventually the flying squad (Nye Roberts and Elijah Davis)  captured the three giants; Blood Bottler (Amelie Jones) Bonecruncher (Maggie Britton) and Gizzardgulper (Lily Rylatt) who all provided great characterisations. Paisley led the closing song ‘Revolting Children’ with a good strong voice.

In Act 2,  ‘The Witches’, the Grand High Witch has a plot to destroy all children, but on a trip to Hotel Magnificent she meets a mysterious Grandma who, with some help, is about to change everything.

The scene is set by a boy played by Christopher Nunn and Grandmother played by Iris Williams who did an excellent job at story telling. Both spoke up clearly. The hotel manager was well played by Inara Langman and I liked Mabel Avard who played Bruno, with an obvious weakness for chocolate! They meet the Grand High Witch expressively played with a great accent by Millie Welch.

Three witches with impressive wigs were well played by Beth Fawkes, Holly Weal and Sophie Williams and they and the Grand High Witch all pretend to be supporters of the RSPCC – the Royal Society for the prevention of cruelty to children! But the potion to be used to eradicate children is stolen from the Grand High Witch and served to them all in the soup at dinner and they are all changed into mice and the cat is sent for! The Chefs, Freya Daunton and Orlaith Fletcher also gave good support and we discover the Grandma was a special agent!  Christopher and Mabel led the final song ‘When I Grow Up’ with great gusto.

There was a simple set with a few props which were quickly moved around mainly by the cast  and all the sound effects were good. This was an evening of great fun enjoyed by the audience with thanks to Director Kate Ross and her production team.

It was pleasing to see that the membership of the Phoenix Youth Theatre has increased over the last 12 months to the point that they were able to provide two teams to stage this Lewis Carroll classic, adapted by director Kate Ross. Those in the group age from 4 to 14 years and therefore this adaptation consisting of two approx. 30-minute acts was most suitable.

Providing a strong thread throughout the story is of course Alice played in the team I watched, by Sophia Shakespeare, who with her sister Mathilda (Seren Williams – who later played the Duchess) both spoke up well. When Alice falls asleep we meet four enchanting butterflies whilst she slumbers. In her dreams Alice meets a wide selection of characters, including the Cheshire Cat played by Sophia Lawrence who magically reduces Alice in size so that she can enter the rabbit hole. Both Sophia and Emelia Mayo, who played Caterpillar, were full of character. Alice meets the White Rabbit (Maggie Britton), Dodo (Connie Parry) and Lory (Mirabelle Gouello), the sleepy Dormouse (Lily Rylatt) and the March Hare (Eleri Bateman) who all gave good support.

Paisley Comri-Bowcott, made a great impression as the somewhat forceful Mad Hatter, full of personality and this was matched by Isla Harrison as the bossy Queen of Hearts. All is observed well by Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Sofia Barter and Keira Beard) and Knave played by Amelie Jones. As Act 1 concludes, the Queen announces that someone has stolen her tarts and of course the culprit will lose their head – meanwhile Alice can’t wait to get home. (Co-incidentally tarts were available for the audience during the interval which was very welcome!)

In Act 2, the Queen tries to find out who has stolen the tarts and whilst the Queen’s soldiers paint the roses red, interviews are conducted and inspections are made to identify any jam that may have been splattered on the culprit! This provided some amusing moments in addition to the mystery of a black box (a 3G mobile phone) and the butterflies eventually escort Alice home.

I recognised the clever reuse of a previous set, which had been beautifully repainted for Alice’s home and the rabbit hole. This was an enchanting production, very well dressed, which can only have added to the confidence of the youngsters as they make their way forward in the magical world of theatre.

Bruce Wyatt (NODA)

Some may have heard of ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ as an American animation film or Disney movie, but it is more likely known as an adaptation of a Roald Dahl’s classic children‘s story. Whilst the story actually features a lot of scheming and violence, the Phoenix Youth Theatre’s production by director Ellen Dorsett is quite charmingly innocent given the group’s youngsters are all between 7 and 14 years of age.
With a cast of 23, many of which had lines to say, it is impossible to comment on them all here, never the less they all contributed in many ways. The fixed set depicting a countryside scene on two levels was excellent in construction and well painted and during the opening whilst the youngsters played games the three main farmers in the story were introduced: ‘Boggis’ (Lottie Lockwood), ‘Bunce’ (Millie Welch) and ‘Bean’ (Iris Williams). All three spoke up well with good characterisation.

We are soon introduced to Mr and Mrs Fox and their four young cubs. ‘Mrs Fox’ was played by Sophia Shakespeare with a warm motherly feel whilst ‘Mr Fox’ played by Amelie Kempshall was played with great confidence and spoke up exceedingly well – one to watch for the future. All four ‘small foxes’ (Paisley Comri-Bowcott, Hywel Jones, Arwen Jones and Archie Corbin) were all good.

The three farmers were determined to eradicate the fox family and after failing to dig them out of their home with shovels, resorted to mechanical means and the ride-on tractor created for the scene was very impressive. The fox family escape by digging their way out further and seek revenge by looting the farmers of their chickens, cider and other produce which they offer to the other animals. I was impressed by Gethin Jones as ‘Rat’ for his clarity and also ‘Mrs Bean’ ( Rose Davis) and Keira Beard (‘Mabel’) who gave great support.

The costumes and make-up were superb and although there were some moments when first night continuity lapsed – well hey most were no older than 11 years of age – this was an overall delightful production which the audience and I enjoyed.

Bruce Wyatt (NODA)