David Walliams is one of the biggest-selling children’s authors in the world (having shifted some 25 million copies in more than 50 languages). And he’s now become the first children’s novelist since Roald Dahl to have their book turned into a full-scale RSC musical extravaganza.
As fun as these big musicals might be, they aren’t something the RSC takes lightly. Not only has the head honcho, Gregory Doran, decided to direct The Boy in the Dress himself, he’s also hired some serious talent. Robbie Williams — probably not seen in Stratford-upon-Avon since Take That were an up-and-coming boy band — has co-written the songs. Mark Ravenhill, the 1990s playwright best known for his tales of jaded shaggers, adapts the text. That’s quite the team.
Has it paid off? You bet. The Boy in the Dress is an absolute belter. Smart, catchy, funny and beautifully imagined. Much of that is down to Doran himself. It isn’t just that the show looks good. It’s how joyfully the whole thing comes together. A decent chunk of the plot revolves around football matches, something that could easily have bogged the production down. Yet these scenes zip by with circus-like energy. He’s got a brilliant cast too: 17-year-old Miriam Nyarko, one of three rotating actresses playing the female lead, gives the kind of performance you feel obliged to mention by name — just so you can act a bit smug when they make it big. My goodness can she sing.
Walliams’s book is a celebration of tolerance and diversity, but it’s not worthy. There’s an intriguing Dahl-esque cynicism to the worlds he creates. Just look at the way he writes adults. When Dennis, the play’s hero, is banned by his father from buying fashion magazines, he reminds his dad of his own secret collection of top-shelf magazines.
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