Invited to review
David Walliams’ Awful Auntie
11th July 2024
David Walliams’ tale of Stella and her awful aunt is brought to the stage by Birmingham Stage Company with a very clever production and a cast of only five. The cast works extremely hard throughout this two hour show and their antics are lapped up by the younger members of the audience and their parents alike. The preset is foreboding and gives a glimpse of what we can expect from the performance. The slightly eerie music also adds to the atmosphere before the action starts.
The story concerns 12 (almost 13) -year-old Stella who we learn has been involved in a tragic accident some months prior to the action taking place in which her parents were taken from her. She has subsequently been in a coma having had medical treatment and been returned to the care of her Aunt Alberta at their stately home. All is, however, not what it seems, as the awful aunt of the title is far more interested in finding the deeds to the property.
As the story develops we learn that Auntie Alberta (Neal Foster) has something of a gambling problem among her many personality quirks. Along with her despicable Auntie, Stella has the company of her father’s doddery and quite bonkers butler, Gibbon (Zain Abrahams) and, it later transpires a diminutive but thorough friendly and helpful ghost called Soot (Matthew Allen). Auntie’s companion is a rather sinister owl called Wagner (Emily Essery) she stole while fighting for the Germans in The Great War. Alles klar?
Stella is a feisty young lass and she is determined to get to the bottom of her parents’ demise and soon begins to suspect her awful auntie may know more about it than she is letting on. Annie Cordoni is beautifully wide eyed and piercingly shrill as young Stella. She brings a wonderful naivety to the role and the kids love her right from the off.
Neal Foster takes the role of the eponymous awful aunt and gives a fabulous performance throughout. It is actually quite difficult not to like his interpretation at the start but her wickedness show through towards the end of the production and the little girl sitting beside me whooped and clapped at her inevitable comeuppance which was very sweet.
Butler’s tend to be the stable character in stories, a trusty retainer as it were. Gibbon is nothing of the sort. He is bat poop bonkers and gets most things wrong as he ambles around the house carrying out his idea of his duty.
Matthew Allen is adorable as the little cockney ghost, Soot and soon gets everyone onside with his mannerisms and occasional looks to the audience. Allen gets my star of the night but it is very much an ensemble piece.
The magic comes from the very clever way that this story is staged. I saw their production of Demon Dentist last year and they have pulled out all the stops in terms of set design (Jackie Trousdale) and lighting (Jason Taylor) for this adaptation of Walliams’ much loved children’s books. As the set moves and the lights change you really get the sense of being in a very large stately home as the scenes move from porch to study, to library and garage. The puppetry (Yvonne Stone) is also very clever indeed allowing for action outside to be comical in the sense of funny and also like a comic. The owl on the longer pole which you can almost reach out and touch as it flies from the stage adds a magical and also rather sinister feel.
Neal Foster who, as well as playing Auntie Alberta, also adapted David Walliams’ book and directed this production, and has done a marvellous job in bringing it to the stage to the delight of everyone in the audience this evening.
David Walliams’ Awful Auntie plays at Darlington Hippodrome until Sunday 14th July and is a joy for children of all ages.
Review by Stephen Stokoe