The BFG – Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon

Writer: Roald Dahl

Adaptor: Tom Wells

Director: Daniel Evans

There’s some giant entertainment on in Stratford upon Avon this Christmas. Children love the Roald Dahl stories with their engaging and amusing storylines, and this Tom Wells’ adaptation of The BFG is the latest to get the stage treatment.

It’s good to have alternatives to pantomime for the younger audience, and the RSC often come up trumps, with The Magician’s Elephant and The Box of Delights in recent years – and this is another cracker, with some very impressive puppetry. It’s typical Dahl, with scary bits that aren’t too scary for younger viewers, lots of humour (even in the scary bits), plus some great special effects and visual impact – and just a touch of magic. It’s got a child-friendly running time too – not that there’s much risk of anyone being bored or distracted with the entertainment that’s happening on the stage.

Sophie is in an orphanage with her friend Kimberley when one night she is kidnapped by a giant and taken to Giant Land. There she learns that the human-eating giants are munching ‘norphans’. Her giant, the BFG, is different, though – he catches dreams and only eats disgusting snozzcumbers. BFG fires up Sophie’s imagination, and they come up with a plan to save the children – but it’s going to need bravery, and some help from the Queen.

There’s a relatively small principal cast and an army of ensemble and puppeteers who together tell a wonderful story and create some magic.

The puppets designed by Toby Olié are a thing of wonder and one of the highlights of the show. They come in different scales and interchange cleverly between different scale versions of the same character, with actors and either oversize or miniature versions of other characters, depending on the context. It’s all extremely well done and very impressive, guaranteed to inspire awe in the younger audience members. There’s a friendly-looking BFG with all the others looking suitably mean and intimidating with massive heads and bulging muscles, there’s tiny and medium-sized Sophies, small versions of everyone – and each is an instantly recognisable version of the actor playing the role. Superb work by the puppetry design team and their makers. There’s a huge amount of skill in the control of the puppets too, as they rush round the stage seemingly perilously close to the edge – and you can easily believe that the giant puppet is actually picking Sophie up, such is the skill with which it is done. It’s all enhanced by some marvellous illusions by Chris Fisher.

John Leader is a suitably approachable BFG with a reassuring voice and a delight in his work, mixing dreams and making magic, while Richard Riddell’s evil Bloodbottler is suitably menacing, determined to eat children if he wants to. Helena Lymbery gives us a memorable turn as a Queen who is fed up with people doing everything for her, with some wonderful comedy work from Philip Labey and Luke Sumner as her security men, Captains Smith and Frith. There’s a good performance too from Sargon Yelda as Royal butler Tibbs, distraught that he wasn’t able to anticipate events with the disastrous result that the Queen had no tea.

The real stars of the show are the children, each played by one of a team of three. This is Sophie’s story, and it was performed wonderfully on press night by Ellemie Shivers, who seems completely at home and confident on the stage, creating a believable character. Sophie is supported by her friend Kimberley – Maisy Lee on press night – giving an equally good performance, though in a smaller role. Expect to see these young people again in future productions.

Composer Oleta Haffner has created some great background music for this production too, enhancing things greatly. Music has often been such an integral part of the RSC, and it is to be hoped that it doesn’t suffer as a result of the recently announced planned cuts to the in-house music department.

As the children and the BFG enjoy a Royal breakfast with the Queen, complete with mugs of frobscottle, a fizzy drink where the bubbles go down instead of up, causing massive whizzpoppers, to the delight of the young audience who love bodily humour, we’re reminded that even the smallest human with a big enough dream can change the world.

The BFG is sure to give you a giant-size smile throughout the show and all the way home.

Runs until 7 February 2026