Phillyist Reviews... The BFG

Roald Dahl is, hands-down, one of my favorite writers. And not just because he wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, either. Dahl wrote a number of works for grown-ups, too. (His short story, "Lamb to the Slaughter," was reworked for an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents... and remains one of my favorite short stories ever.) He managed to achieve something many authors aspire to but few attain: the ability to write for the ages of nine to ninety, and successfully. But no matter how brilliant Dahl's books for grown-ups are, it's really his books for kids that endure. I read The BFG in fourth grade, shortly after reading another of Dahl's books, The Twits. Thirteen years later, I found I didn't remember much of it, so sitting through the Arden's staged adaptation was like a delightful refresher course.

To believe that a twenty-seven foot tall giant (BFG stands for Big Friendly Giant) can be onstage requires a big stretch of the imagination and an extended theatrical conceit. The idea is this: Sophie (Maggie Lakis) is a young girl celebrating her birthday with her friends and brother (Kala Moses Maxter, Jared Michael Delaney, Ben Dibble, Miriam A. Hyman, and Jeb Kreager) in her (really really cool) attic. After a rousing game of Red Light, Green Light, her parents (Peter Pryor and Catharine K. Slusar) come upstairs to announce that, unfortunately, the magician who was supposed to provide birthday entertainment won't be able to make it. The bright, enthusiastic Sophie is unperturbed. If they don't have entertainment, they'll make their own, by acting out The BFG, one of her favorite books (she shares the main character's name). This frame means that you don't really need giants onstage. You don't really need sets resembling Sweden or England. You need your imagination, a few props, a pair of stilts, and some really cool puppets and masks, created by Aaron Cromie, who knows a thing or two about masks.

I don't want to give much away about the technical aspects of the show, because they certainly weren't what I was expecting. But the cast did great with the elements thrown at them, including the necessity to play at least two characters apiece, and successfully. (I would suggest a dialogue coach for some of those tricky British accents, though.) The show is fun and short (an hour and a half, including intermission—that's the beauty of children's theatre), and I wanted nothing better than to run around on the stage and play with all the toys there. It wasn't high-brow theatre, but it was certainly a ninety minutes I was happy to spend at the Arden.

The BFG
By Roald Dahl
Adapted by David Wood
Directed by Whit MacLaughlin
Through January 21 at the Arden Theatre (40 N. 2nd St., Philadelphia)
ardentheatre.org

Kala Moses Baxter, Maggie Lakis, Ben Dibble and Jared Michael Delaney in Arden Theatre Company’s production of The BFG (Big Friendly Giant). Photo by Mark Garvin. Via The Arden.