Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts a fabulously fun romp by shake and stir

Roald Dahl had a wonderfully warped way of looking at fairytales and nursery rhymes and shake and stir theatre co’s popular show is inspired by his twisted tales

Escape into Roald Dahl’s delightfully sick mind by getting along to shake and stir theatre co’s'Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts.

MURDER, cannibalism, flatulence and violence … here’s a theatrical production that has it all!

Shake and stir theatre co’s hit show Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts has turned out to be one of the acclaimed Brisbane outfit’s biggest hits.

And they’ve had a few.

Dahl is one of their main inspirations and the company has dished up George’s Marvellous Medicine and Fantastic Mr Fox but Revolting Rhymes has been their most enduring hit for kids.

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Fantastic Mr Fox. Picture: Dylan Evans

It premiered at La Boite’s Roundhouse Theatre in 2014 and has been touring ever since. Now it returns to La Boite after a successful two week season at the Sydney Opera House.

My guilty pleasure this morning was sitting through the first performance of this short season — a school’s morning at which I looked rather out of place.

But like most of us my inner adolescent is still active … and trying to get out … so I had a ball and so will you.

We all know Roald Dahl was a bit of a sicko, in the nicest possible way, and that makes his children’s stories attractive to adults.

Dahl never patronised his younger readers which is why he is so universally popular.

He took apart our favourite fairytales and nursery rhymes and laid bare their seamier sides, which weren’t that far under the surface.

You all know these stories — Cinderella, The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and the rest. Although, do you really?

At the beginning of this fabulously fun hour-long romp the various characters, played by Leon Cain (a brilliant clown), Judy Hainsworth, Nelle lee and Nick Skubij, pop their heads up and each says …”You think you know this story? You don’t’.”

A scene from the naughty fun of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts by shake and stir theatre co.

Because Dahl makes these tales more twisted than they were to start with and they were already pretty weird. Director Ross Balbuziente says the text is pure Dahl because his writing was perfect for the theatre so he hasn’t tampered with it.

So what you’re hearing is Dahl, the master, having his naughty fun.

Children's author Roald Dahl in 1984.

In his Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack’s mum is devoured by the giant.

In his Little Red Riding Hood she kills the wolf and makes a coat out of his pelt. She also turns up with The Three Little Pigs and ends up with a pigskin handbag.

Her Prince Charming is laid bare for what he really is, a murdering swine who likes decapitating people.

And so it goes. Everyone is a tad unsavoury and the happy endings are all warped. There’s farting (who doesn’t love some robust flatulence on stage) and plenty of violence a la The Three Stooges and there’s a bit of cussing too but parents note — it’s suitably beeped out.

The circular stage is a kind of cabinet of curiosities which characters pop in and out of and it’s all quite low-fit in the way theatre was originally meant to be.

The national tour is still under way so it’s nice the company could bring the show back home for a short stretch.

If you have seen it before you’ll want to do so again but if you haven’t, do yourself a favour because it’s an absolute hoot.

Today it was my guilty pleasure to sit in the darkness for an hour and escape into Roald Dahl’s delightfully sick mind. I loved that. So will you.

laboite.com.au

REVOLTING RHYMES & DIRTY BEASTS — until Sunday, July 28, Roundhouse Theatre at La Boite, Kelvin Grove