THEATRE REVIEW: Gangsta Granny - The Opera House, Manchester.

Very often, what works excellently in print, doesn't transfer to live theatre; and this, Birmingham Stage Company's current touring production of David Walliams's 'Gangst Granny' is a firm testament to that.

Walliams's children's book is funny, well written, and continues to enthral children each time they pick it up. The magic of reading of course being that it works in conjunction with your own imagination. What you watch on stage (or in a film) is the product of someone else's imagination, and oftentimes, it bears little resemblance to your own, leaving one feeling disappointed.

Adapted and directed by Neal Foster, this production was very much a "game of two halves", and a hugely mixed big of the good and the not very good at all. The first act was long and dragged with very little humour or anything really to enthuse the young expectant audience. The whole routine of silly puns and Ben's dance costumes went completely above the heads of the target audience; as indeed did the school teachers' routine in different languages, and they simply were not funny. The second act was just as long (in fact the play runs for 2,5 hours!), but had the children much more in the director's thoughts. Despite the lack of proximity the Opera House stage has with it's audience, some attempt at interaction was made twice in the second act and the children responded accordingly, becoming noticably more alert and enjoying the play more. I think it safe to say that their favourite character was Jason Furnival's 'Mr. Parker'.

Set design (Jackie Trousdale) was clever. I am not sure it entirely worked, but the idea of using three revolving columns which open out, fold away, compartmentalise, and multi-purpose, was interesting to watch (as an adult).The, at times very short, scenes were interspersed with choreographed set changes (effected by the cast); and it did feel that the scene changes were sometimes longer than the actual scenes themselves, and there were simply too many of them, dragging out the length of the show, and creating a lack of cohesion in the narrative.

Isabel Ford shone as Gangsta 'Black Cat' Granny herself, a solid and hugely enjoyable characterisation which she made her own; and I did have the feeling that she was, at times, carrying the company. Justin Davies tried very hard to play the 11-year old Ben, but was not able to act down from his own age enough to be truly convincing sadly. And the ensemble cast had moments of pure genius inside a soup of the mediocre. 

It was difficult to drum up the correct atmosphere for such a play in fairness. The design and style of show did not suit the grandiose expanse of the Opera House, and with such a small audience all sitting in a cold and draughty auditorium, the production did drag and underwhelm.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall

on - 24.11.21