Witchy woman
Director Tim Bray and actor Tim Raby tell Dionne Christian witchery fun still strikes the right chord with modern audiences
It’s hard to believe a book many of us grew up with is being enjoyed by our children and grandchildren. Badjelly the Witch — written in 1973 — has been adapted for the stage. Take the kids along this weekend as they enjoy the start of the school holidays.
The baddest witch in all the world turns 45 this year, but Badjelly isn’t hanging up her broomstick when there’s still a legion of fans to entertain.
In New Zealand we love to be entertained by Badjelly.
Although she flew in from the United Kingdom courtesy of muchloved comedian Spike Milligan’s irreverent children’s story — Milligan wrote it to entertain his own kids — the original stage adaptation is ours.
In 1977, theatre-maker Alannah O’Sullivan was editing scripts for Radio New Zealand when she was asked to adapt Badjelly the Witch. That script now holds the title of the country’s most-licensed play and, as of 2017, it had had more than 100 productions all over New Zealand.
Given that it’s NZ Theatre Month, it’s timely that Badjelly returns to charm a new generation of fans these school holidays. Tim Bray Children’s Theatre Company reprises the show, using a script Bray wrote, which includes The Goons’ Ying Tong song as well as a goodly number of nods toward Monty Python skits. (Milligan, of course, was a member of The Goons.)
Bray, a longtime fan of The Goons and Monty Python, says Badjelly the Witch encapsulates the humour they became known for: far-fetched stories, bizarre characters, surreal comedy and wordplays as well as silly sounds effects (the trombone-playing mummy in Badjelly).
His company staged Badjelly in 2010 and 2016 and it was one of their most popular shows.
Ask him why and he sums it up in a single sentence: “It’s rude, it’s silly, it’s nonsense and it’s Spike Milligan.” At its heart, it’s a fairy tale in the mode of classics but pulled into contemporary times, where children remain intrigued by witches but want to laugh at giants with bare bottoms which, as far as the rudeness factor goes, is about as indecent as it gets.
The story follows Tim and Rose, who go into a deep, dark forest to look for their lost cow, Lucy, and meet a whole range of extremely weird and very wonderful characters.
Ask Tim Raby why he likes to play Badjelly — it’s his second turn as the wicked witch — and he’ll tell you it is sheer fun.
“It’s the joy of being wicked and being able to say things like ‘stinky-poo’ and ‘knickers’ and knowing the audience is going to scream at you,” says Raby. “You do have to pull it back sometimes because you don’t want to scare the audience too much.”
Strangely Raby, who’s from the UK, had never heard of Badjelly until he came to New Zealand. The story was published in 1973 and quickly followed by an LP, where Milligan read the story while music played, but it didn’t receive the amount of love from the Brits that it did from New Zealanders. Indeed, entire generations of Kiwi kids have grown up listening to the story on the radio and seeing it performed live.
The kids will also be able to read the book again. A new full-colour hardback gift edition, complete with audio CD ofthe BBC Radio play, has been released. Expect to have fun explaining — or trying to — how Badjelly can turn policemen into apple trees or bananas into mice.