The Witches

“The Witches” written by Roald Dahl is said to be his scariest children’s book and it has been adapted for the stage as a play for the younger actor by David Wood, the play is also based on the 1990 British Film of the same name staring Angelica Houston. The story is about a young boy, who is living with his grandmother, following the death of his parents. The boy’s grandmother has told him all about witches and how to recognise them, they wear gloves in summer, have funny noses, no toes and, worst of all,  they wear wigs covering carbuncular heads, unfortunately, witches don't like children they find them smelly and revolting.  The boy and his grandmother (who has been ill with pneumonia) go on holiday to a seaside hotel where they find that witches are holding their Annual General Meeting. Worryingly, “The Grand High Witch” has devised a plan to turn all children into mice by using a magic potion hoping to wipe them all out, but the boy and his grandmother with the help of Bruno Jenkins, another boy who is staying at the hotel also have a plan to get rid of the witches for good, but in the end do they avoid being turned into mice and are they victorious over the Witches.

This was a very enjoyable production with a cast of young talented actors who brought these well known characters to life, all under the guidance of  Lauren and Neil, they all worked well together and the characters were well defined, and I was very happy to see young actors enjoy performing and being involved in a play. The central character of the boy was excellently played by a confident Callum Carter and he was complimented nicely by Deryn Ashton as his grandmother, they both acted very well together which resulted in a gentle believable relationship. Jacob Latham had good timing which resulted in a nice comedic performance in his role of Bruno Jenkins, a boy who was also on holiday at the hotel and helped with the plan to defeat the witches. Bruno’s parents Mr and Mrs Jenkins were played  very well by Jack Samson and Holly Atherton. Julia Davies as The Grand High Witch  gave a strong performance with a good command of the stage, while producing a very good accent and excellent characterisation. I would just like to mention three other small  cameo roles,Chris Lloyd as the Head Chef and Adam Holcroft as Second Chef who both performed a funny slapstick routine which went down very well with the audience and Eleanor Bonner who did a very good job with the mouse puppets. I would love to mention everyone else who took part in this play but as there was a large cast and lots of cameo roles I don't want to miss anyone out, however there were some lovely characters produced and there were no weak links, everyone played their parts and supported the principle cast very well. Generally, diction and projection was good and all without microphones (well done everyone)and the pace of the play was just right. 

The set was minimalistic and scenes were changed by the use of various props, staging and technical input was good with smooth swift transition between the scenes,  Costumes, make up and wigs were good, thought must have gone into getting them just right, which added to the authenticity and success of the production.  

Well done to all the back stage and technical crew and anyone involved in bringing this production to the stage. This was a very good entertaining production thoroughly enjoyed by the audience.Thank you very much, we had a really nice evening visiting Wigan Little Theatre Youth Theatre
 

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