The Witches

Synopsis

There is definitely trouble brewing at Bournemouth's Hotel Magnificent. Those nice respectable ladies in the ballroom are really witches holding their Annual General Meeting and plotting to turn all the children in Britain into mice! Can our plucky boy hero foil their dreadful plan?

Our Review:

10 March 2005

Make no mistake: this latest Birmingham Rep transfer is not a West End show. Its rickety sets alone – high on transportability, low on seamless spectacle - belie its more modest, touring production values.

But, if that can be counted a fault, it’s one that can be easily forgiven since, aside from its London address at Wyndham’s Theatre, The Witches isn’t really pitching itself as a West End show. How could it be? With top-price tickets a maximum of £25 (not to mention offers that level all seats at £15 for adults and a mere £5 for kids, its target audience), it’s not only affordable but extremely good value.

To add a little more star value, Ruby Wax has been drafted in to play the evil Grand High Witch for the London season. While Miss Motormouth appears to have grand high fun in the role, she by no means steals the show. Her gaggle of hags have been recruited from the local populace (See The Goss, 6 Jan 2005), all good-naturedly en...

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Latest User Review

144.82.194.13) - 5 March 2005:

The Witches was one of my favourite children's books, so I was very excited to see it on stage. And I wasn't too badly disappointed, nor was I the oldest one there (and I'm only a student). It's a nice adaptation, that tells the story as it is, and doesn't add too many extra bits. It has all the comedy in it necessary of a Roald Dahl adaption. The bits they added in were worthwhile, such as the scene with the staircase. The puppetry (disappearances, mice, etc) and effects were also quite good. There were problems though. For one, I did sort of feel that the Grand High Witch could have been just a tiny bit more evil. And I didn't really like how occasionally the characters would talk to the audience to tell the narrative. I think my main problem though (and this may purely be about the West End production) is that it was quite short (which is in a way a good thing, it never dragged, and 1.5 hours felt more like 30 min). This was fine, but paying 15 pounds or more for a show, I expected better. Nonetheless, I think this would have been great to see as a child (I still remember the BFG as I saw it when a kid, and that was only a small local production, nothing this fancy), and it wasn't too bad to see now either. If only money weren't an issue for some!...

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