James and the Giant Peach

The combination of Roald Dahl and David Wood is bound to make for a successful show. They both focus on children's humour and there is always plenty of action to keep the attention focused. The director had added a few well chosen songs to pad out the show and these were short and sweet and didn't detract from the story.

Brooke Shipley as James did an excellent job portraying a young boy. Her ability to enter into a child's world was very convincing and she passed her enthusiasm on to the rest of the cast. James ends up in the care of his two cruel aunts after his parents are killed by a rhinoceros. Aunt Sponge (Amanda Shaw) and Aunt Spiker (Jo Clayton) were very amusing with their constant bickering. James acquires some new friends when he accidently spills a magic potion onto a peach tree in the garden. This results in a giant peach big enough to live in and some giant sized insects who befriend him. We had a wise Grasshopper (Tony Clegg) who also provided us with music along the way. There was a Centipede with lots of boots (Rob Leach), a very attractive Spider (Kathy Jackman), a very miserable Worm (Jacquie Briggs) and a lovely Ladybird (Jennie Webster). These five individuals were well cast and their characters gave us lots of laughs throughout the show. They were helped along their way by some wonderful seagulls and finally arrived for a new life in New York. There was a strong supporting cast and well done to all the children, you could hear every word they said.

The set designer had coped well with this intricate set. To depict all the different scenes is not easy but they had been kept simple and along with clever props (I loved the sharks) it worked well.

The costumes were excellent especially for the insects and the make-up added to the overall pleasing effect.

There were some good lighting and sound effects to add to the atmosphere.

This was an amusing production and it was lovely to see the children in the audience spellbound by what was happening on stage. well done to everyone.

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