Classic rhymes designed to delight
ONE of her favourite scenes growing up was when Little Red Riding Hood pulls the pistol from her knickers in Roald Dahl’s Revolting
Rhymes. Now she performs it for months on end.
This week, Judy Hainsworth will be one of four performers bringing Roald
Dahl’s parodied children’s tales to life in a stage version of Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts.
“We take the audience through this crazy journey of these stories,” Ms Hainsworth said, who plays characters including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks.
“We’ve got this really great set that revolves, and we sort of crawl in and out of it, it’s like a big cake and we pop out of trap doors and little hidey holes.
“It’s all very ‘use your imagination’ throughout the whole show.”
Shake & Stir Theatre Co.’s production first wowed audiences in 2015 and has toured in every state and territory in the country, been nominated for several Helpmann Awards and is preparing for a run of New Zealand shows late this year.
Director and co-producer Ross Balbuziente said it was a passion and joy to bring the iconic books to the theatre.
“We have approached this work like a concert specifically for our younger audience, where Dahl’s characters are the popstars,” Mr Balbuziente said. “The result is mad, surprising, whimsical and a 100 per cent joyful take on these classic tales.”
The production is on tonight and tomorrow night at the Theatre Royal.
Tickets are $20-$35 at purchase.theatreroyal.com.au or the Box Office.