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The Octagon’s Christmas offering this year is an adaptation, by David Wood, of Roald Dahl’s magical novel. And with a few pantomimic touches added by ingenious director Mark Babych, it all works very well.
Des O’Malley is champion in the title role, the young lad who thinks poaching is something to do with cooking an egg. That’s until his dad, played splendidly by Stephen Chapman, lets him in on the family secret about how to catch pheasants.
Morgan George makes an immensely hissable villain, Mr Hazell, the Brummie brewer wanting to turf Danny’s father out of home and business in order to extend his own estate. Helen Kay doubles jauntily as the dotty doctor who raises a petition against the eviction and as Danny’s toothy teacher, caning him for opposing the slaughter of birds for aristocratic sport.
Thomas Aldersley, Martin Miller and Elianne Byrne put themselves about in a variety of clownish stereotypes and complete the strong ensemble.
A clever script, lots of knockabout humour and some elements of Japanese Bunraku, not least in the way the pheasants are handled by puppeteers, combine to make this great entertainment for the whole family.
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