David is flattered by the Roald Dahl comparisons
and brought the emotions to the fore. There’s something very tender and sensitive about his illustrations. The other thing about Quentin is, because a lot of us have grown up with his illustrations, it’s like instant nostalgia when we see his work as a grown up. It makes you think of your own childhood.
How did your collaboration with the RSC begin?
I certainly never thought, ‘oh, one day The Boy in the Dress will be a musical with the RSC.’ About four years ago, Mark Ravenhill asked to adapt it. At that point, he didn’t say that it should be a musical. I thought it was going to be a play version. So I met Mark a few times. I liked him a lot, I liked his work a lot. I thought, well, he’s a proper playwright, it’s brilliant that he wants to do it. I’d seen all of Mark’s plays. You don’t think of his work as being childfriendly, especially not a play called Shopping and F ****** . But I knew that he’d know how to make the story theatrical, and that he’d know how to deal with it in a sensitive way.
Later I met Mark with [RSC artistic director] Greg Doran and they said, ‘oh, we’d like to do it as a musical and ask Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers to write the music’. I know Robbie and Guy a bit and I thought, well, you can ask them, I’m not going to ask. When they said Robbie and Guy were on board, I thought I’ll believe it when I hear the songs. Then, when I came to a workshop and I heard 18 incredible songs, I was like, oh, this is real now.
What do Guy Chambers and Robbie Williams bring to The Boy in the Dress?
They’re brilliant. What I was really impressed with when I first heard their songs was how immediate they were. Also, while their songs are obviously based on things in The Boy in the Dress, they’re not slavish to it. They’ve found their own new language, but also they’ve somehow enlarged it. They’ve made the whole thing grow and feel much bolder than it was before. Songs have that power, don’t they?
They’re all really catchy too and each song is unique to the character, that character’s voice and the emotion they’re expressing.
The RSC had a recent musical hit with Matilda. Are you a fan?
I love everything about Matilda. I’ve gone back lots over the years with different family members and I get something different out of it every time. Actually, I’ve always wanted to be in Matilda – I’d love to play Miss Trunchbull. I’ve suggested it, but you’ve got to be able to commit for six months. I can’t really do six months because I’m busy with other commitments, but if I could do it for a shorter amount of time… Maybe one day.
I’m sure that some people will compare The Boy in the Dress with Matilda, but you can’t worry too much about that. There are similarities – it’s a book for children and it’s a musical – but it’s very different in terms of tone and story. As much as I admire Roald Dahl’s work, I don’t think he would have written this story.
Your children’s writing is often compared with Roald Dahl’s. How significant has Dahl been to you?
Though I never met him, Roald Dahl got me into reading. I don’t think you become a writer unless you like to read books. I liked reading his books when I was a kid. It’s flattering to be compared to someone who was such a big part of your childhood and whose work you admire so much. But Dahl’s work is unique. It’s mainly because we shared an illustrator in Quentin Blake that people compare.
How important has cross-dressing been in your life and career?
I guess I have a history of cross-dressing. My older sister wanted a little sister not a little brother so she used to dress me up when I was a toddler. Then there were school plays. I went to an all-boys school and no one else wanted to play the girls’ roles. I remember once, when we were studying Macbeth, my English teacher wrote on my report “a very memorable Lady Macbeth”.
With [TV show] Little Britain, even though we were two men doing it, we wanted to show different aspects of life and it felt natural to play female characters – some of whom became quite well known. Cross-dressing is not something I think about a lot, but I know people do associate it with me and that’s fine. I’ve always thought it’s brilliant for people to express themselves. That should be celebrated.
Did you have any experiences with the RSC growing up?
School took us to see Macbeth at the RSC in 1985/86. It’s burned on my memory because it’s the first Shakespeare I went to, and I saw Jonathan Pryce and Sinead Cusack and David Troughton. I’ve met all of them since and told them what an effect it had on me.
The Boy in the Dress runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-uponAvon, until March 8. Tickets: rsc.org.uk or 01789 331111.