Have you read Awful Auntie?
I have – and this play is very close to the book, with so much to fit into the 1hr 45mins that the action moves really quickly.
The plot isn’t rushed, though. It was still easy to follow and the youngsters in the audience had a great time laughing along with – and at – the characters from David Walliams’ famous book.
There wasn’t a lot of scenery but it was cleverly rotated around the stage to suit indoors, outdoors, upstairs and the cellar. They also ended up on the roof, which was surprisingly easy to believe!
Sly Awful Auntie Alberta is played by Timothy Speyer, who was true to the book in making his character a manly woman (less a pantomime dame and more a tweed-clad dragon).
Without giving too much away, she’s the baddie and tries to reclaim the family stately home she believes should be hers.
In her way is poor orphaned Stella Saxby, the only child of parents who died in a suspicious car crash. The talented Georgina Leonidas is easily believable as a 13-year-old girl. You may have spotted her as Harry Potter’s fellow quidditch player in The Half-Blood Prince and the Deathly Hallows. She is the main character and on stage for nearly all the show. She keeps interest up by constantly revealing new details of the story, leading us all to wonder what will happen next.
Her new friend Soot (Ashley Cousins) is a great comedy character who helps Stella piece together the truth about the car crash and who (and what) he really is.
Watch out for doddery butler Gibbon (Richard James), who gets funnier and funnier as the play goes on and for the cleverly created Wagner, an owl whose puppeteer Roberta Bellekom stays well in the background.
Ten out of ten for a show that’s true to plot and spirit of the book – although this play is so much funnier.
Review by Louis Astill (12)
