Granny is a hoot on her scooter
I’M NOT sure Gangsta Granny really needs two-and-a-quarter hours to pull off her Crown Jewels heist with grandson Ben, but Neal Foster’s touring production is good high-spec children’s entertainment all the same.
The production also benefits from the considerable popularity of David Walliams’s book, to which Foster’s adaptation is entirely faithful.
This is the one where our hero Ben dreads spending Friday night at Gran’s house, where he is subjected to tedious games of Scrabble and her flatulence, fuelled by her obsessive love of cabbage.
But after discovering a stash of jewels in her biscuit tin, Ben hatches a cunning plan to steal the Crown Jewels. All that can stop them is a nosy neighbour and a ballroom dancing competition.
Jacqueline Trousdale’s set of revolving, pop- up scenery perfectly matches the primarycoloured cartoons of Quentin Blake’s illustrations for Walliams’s books. Beds pull out of walls and those same walls turn into projection screens and open up to reveal the corner shop and Granny’s kitchen.
Add to this Pink Panther-style film music, the garish ballroom dancing outfits of Mum, Dad and oleaginous ballroom dancing bigwig MC Flavio, and it’s prime time fun for kids.
There are short scenes in both halves that could be cut and longer scenes that could be snappier, but the whole cast put in an impressive shift keeping the action moving with jigs and turns between scenes.
Tom Cawte is a gamely gawky Ben and Nan (Louise Bailey) steals the show with her mean mobility scooter. Jenny Gayner is a nicely trashy Mum, while Jason Furnival doubles up as stout security guard Dad and Ben’s would-be nemesis, meddling neighbour Mr Parker.
This is a well-drilled production with a sentimental, but finally upbeat, ending. With a few nips and tucks, it could really pick your pocket.
GANGSTA Granny is in Cheltenham this week, and Chester the next. Full tour dates: birminghamstage.com