Music and Lyrics: Richard M Sherman and Robert B Sherman
Writer: Jeremy Sans
Director: Paul Hart
Newbury’s Watermill Theatre was named Theatre of the Year 2026 by The Stage, partly because of the reputation they’ve built for high quality productions. This summer’s offering, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, certainly lives up to that reputation in a new production directed by Watermill artistic director Paul Hart.
Hart brings to the show a strong vision, eschewing the traditional bright colours and technical reliance for a show that comes to life through physicality, ingenuity, and creative. He has created a world for his production the draws on Caractacus Potts’ inventiveness for its visual style.
That visual style is led by Katie Lias, responsible for the design of both the set and costumes. Lias’s set is simple, fitting into the intimate space offered by the Watermill, and spilling out into the theatre’s grounds. She has worked to immerse the audience into the world originally created by James Bond creator Ian Fleming as a world of wonder for children.
The show is led by Christian Edwards playing Caractacus Potts; a devoted father and moderately successful inventor. Edwards is no stranger to Watermill audiences with three previous appearances, including as Pilate in last year’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Edwards plays a caricaturised Potts, full of energy and verve, and is instantly watchable and likeable.
Making her professional debut, Lydia Louise shines as confectionary heiress Truly Scrumptious. She is the strongest singer on stage, a talent that shows as she joins Aurora Breslin (as Jemima) and Francis Adams (as Jeremy) in the song which shares her character’s name and again in Doll on a Music Box in the second act. There is an innocence in her character, but also a feistiness and determination, In a role which can easily be two dimensional Louise refuses to make easy choices, creating a character which is one of the most developed and lifelike in the show.
Perhaps the strongest actors on stage are Sam Pay and Alexander Zane as Vulgarian spies Boris and Goran. Even during a short show stop, Pay and Zane kept acting, entertaining the audience while the show’s crew worked behind the scenes. They were a strong double act and equally strong as individual performers, taking control of the stage every time they were on it.
Former Blue Peter and Record Breakers presenter Mark Curry joins the cast as Grandpa Potts. It’s fair to say he wasn’t the strongest actor, singer, or dancer on display – a reflection of the quality of rest of the cast – but Curry still knows how to lift an audience, even in a fairly small role.
Leading the cast of actor-musicians is deputy musical director Reuben Greeph, overseeing a show in which almost every performer plays at least one instrument, while also playing The Toymaker. His Toymaker is warm and caring; a friend not only to the Potts family but also to the audience, and the perfect contrast to Susannah van den Berg’s Childcatcher. For her part, van den Berg is a creepy Childcatcher, but manages to avoid falling into the trap of being scary. She is deliberate with her movement and uses that movement to convey the tonally different to everything else happening on stage.
Mark Parrett is the show’s puppet designer and director, while Anjali Mehra choreographs. They both add to the show’s charm, especially as Hart and Mehra invite the audience to the fairground for Me Ol’ Bamboo. Those familiar with the Watermill’s productions will be used to Hart making use of the theatre’s grounds for their productions, and it is in that spirit that popcorn is passed around as the show’s ensemble shine in a fairground marque in the grounds.
Lighting designed by Jai Morjaria and sound by Tom Marshall help create the world envisioned by Hart and Fleming.
The Watermill Theatre’s production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is fun, creative, and brings new life to a six-decade old story. Hart’s direction and the cast (casting by Cydney Beech) had the audience laughing throughout, primarily through small and easily overlooked moments of light and humour. The show lives through it’s attention to detail with nothing overlooked – even down to a small train making its way round the balcony.
Until Sunday 13 September.
