Fans of David Walliams will enjoy this excellent production of Gangsta Granny. It is the tale of an eleven year old boy who has to spend Friday nights with his Granny who smells of cabbage, and he loathes the weekly visit, whilst his parents go dancing.
Ben who is played by Justin Davies is a typical young boy who finds his Granny (Isabel Ford) rather dull, old, and uninteresting. Ben dreams of becoming a plumber but that is deemed too ambitious by his parents (Jason Furnival and Jess Nesling) – they dream of their son becoming a professional dancer who will star on ‘Strictly’. However, Ben starts to realises that perhaps he has underestimated his Granny; could she be an international jewel thief?
The scenes are short and move swiftly with clever set movements between the family lounge, granny’s kitchen and Raj’s corner shop, the Tower of London amongst others. Each scene change is accompanied by the parents twisting and twirling their way across the stage in a new dance routine and costume.
The changes of costume are slick and quick as many of the actors play two different roles and until you read the program this is not obvious. The river is successfully created, and sound effects and lights are used to create and build atmosphere and tension, will Ben and his Granny get caught?
The show has the wit and humor of David Walliams from the opening scene, and maintains this throughout the production; the walks and poses of the actors add to the comic timing causing many laugh out loud moments. This is a show that does and will appeal from ages 5-105 – you do not need to have read the book to understand and enjoy the production, and the 9 and 11 year old I attended with said ‘its awesome, amazing’ and ‘can we see it again?’
Which I think sums up this show. It is typical David Walliams at his best as a book and this has successfully been translated to the stage. I highly recommend you take your family of all ages to go and see this production, and maybe they will also realise that Grannies are perhaps not so dull and stuffy after all.
Gangsta Granny plays at Lighthouse, Poole until 1st May before continuing on its nationwide tour.
Gangsta Granny
Summary
A wonderful evening for all of the family; Gangsta Granny is David Walliams at his best, brilliantly adapted for the stage.
