Culture and TV
It’s been decades since Roald Dahl’s most famous children’s books were published but their mix of fantasy and horror, fairy tale and humour means he remains one of the world’s most well-read authors.
But Dahl didn’t only write tales of preternaturally gifted girls, kind-hearted giants or magical sweet factories. He re-wrote — in his own unique style — some of the world’s most beloved traditional tales: Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf and
The Three Little Pigs.
As he did with his own stories, Dahl makes the children the real heroes in these “revolting rhymes” where the portrayal of heroes and villains are turned on their heads. Now, Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts bursts off the page in an awardwinning stage show, which takes his words and adds in live action to, say producers, “delight and disgust in equal measure” those aged 5 to 105.
And for those who like an interesting fact or two with their entertainment, it’s no surprise that Dahl’s clever use of language had its basis in skillfully applied linguistic principles. The numerous words and phrases he made up were based on old words and rhymes, while he also used malapropism (when a word is mistakenly used in place of a similar sounding one), spoonerisms (swapping the first letters of words around) and onomatopoeia (playing with sounds).
Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts, Bruce Mason Centre, December 21-23.