A dash of Scooby-Doo, a pinch of Roald Dahl and the main ingredient of David Walliams – there’s plenty for families to get their teeth into when the Demon Dentist arrives at His Majesty’s Theatre.
And director Neal Forster – who also adapted several of Walliams’ hugely-successful children’s books for the stage – says it’s probably the funniest and biggest to date.
“It has this fantastic story about this dentist who comes to town and Gabz and Alfie are the two children who realise he might be connected to the strange things that keep happening after people keep finding very odd things under their pillows,” said Neal, actor/manager of the award-winning Birmingham Stage Company which is behind the show.
“They are trying to solve the mystery, so it’s a bit like a Scooby-Doo story, really. Eventually, Alfie comes face to face with the dentist and we find out what’s been going on. It’s really very funny and good fun.”
From a school to the bottom of a coal mine – Demon Dentist is a fun ride
Along the way the action shifts from a school to a train, to a dentist’s surgery and even to the bottom of a coal mine during the rollicking action, making it one of the biggest shows his company has staged yet in their Walliams’ adaptations, which have include Gangsta Granny, Awful Auntie and Billionaire Boy.
Neal said: “It has all the thrills and chills and laughter. It really is like a thriller because for the first half we don’t know what’s going on until we discover it’s the dentist.”
His favourite scene comes when the characters all gather in a bedroom where they believe the Demon Dentist is hiding somewhere.
“It’s very funny, and we get lots of screams during that scene as well,” said Neal. “It’s that combination of when you are safely scared in the theatre but also having enormous fun at the same time. It’s almost like Chekov where one moment you’re scared, the next you are rolling with laughter, and that’s what this play seems to do really well.”
The appeal is in no small part down the writing of David Walliams himself, whose series of kids’ books have become phenomenally successful.
Why David Walliams is like Roald Dahl in his writing for children
“He likens himself to and his favourite author is Roald Dahl,” said Neal. “He is similar in the sense that he creates these extraordinary characters who do extraordinarily devilish things, but he understands that children really enjoy that and get a lot of fun from it. He doesn’t censor himself as a writer.”
Neal added that Walliams doesn’t flinch from real life issues either. The mother in Demon Dentist has died, the father has become disabled which affects how he brings up his son and a social worker has to get involved.
“There is a lot of social context in the play, which makes it really touching. That seems to be a characteristic in all the shows we have done,” said Neal.
“Gangsta Granny is about the relationship between the young and the old and how the old are often ignored. Billionaire Boy is about how friendship and love are so much more important than fame and money.
“They are great fun but also have really great stories which gives you something to think about when you’ve finished laughing and are walking home.”
Taking David Walliams’ stories from the page to the stage of His Majesty’s
Neal said that Walliams’ writing style readily lends itself to adaptation for the stage – a process which sees the two of them working closely together for the theatre adaptations.
“I have a go at doing the first draft and he normally has corrections or notes or ideas he wants to add,” said Neal.
“But with Demon Dentist he was completely happy with it from beginning to end. There wasn’t anything he wanted to change, which is unusual for one of our adaptations of his books. The first time he saw it was in Manchester and loved it.
“That’s great for us, because he is a hard man to please, being so professional.”
It is now 30 years since Neal founded Birmingham Stage Company, which has grown to be one of the world’s leading producers of theatre for children and their families, staging shows such as Horrible Histories.
Neal Foster tells why children are great audiences to work with
“Children are a fantastic audience to work with because they are not cynical, they will suspend their disbelief and go with you as long you are convincing them,” he said.
“They are wonderfully fresh but you can’t bore a children’s audience because they will just start talking or go to the toilet. Unlike an adult audience who will quietly go to sleep, children will become disruptive.”
Neal is confident that the children and their families heading for His Majesty’s next week will be rapt throughout.
“If you are looking for an afternoon or evening of fun, laughter and thrills, this is your show,” he said.
David Walliams’ Demon Dentist is at His Majesty’s Theatre from Thursday June 22 to Saturday June 24. For information and tickets visit aberdeenperformingarts.com or call 01224 641122.
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