

David Walliams has rightly earned the reputation of being one of the best and certainly one of the favourite children’s authors of the modern era and some of his huge successes have been transferred to the stage.
Birmingham Stage Theatre is the company that has been heavily involved with the author and have brought the latest adaptation – Awful Auntie – to the Regent Theatre for a short run.
Stella (Annie Cordoni) wakes up in her bed to discover that she has been in a coma for three months after a car crash that killed her parents. Now in the dubious care of her Aunt Alberta (Zain Abrahams), she soon realises that she is only been left alive so that she can be tricked or terrorised into signing the deeds to the family estate over to her rotten relative.
An attempt to escape is thwarted by Alberta – aided by pet owl Wagner who is portrayed by puppeteer Emily Essery – and Stella finds herself cast into the cellar where she will languish until having signed the deeds.
Fortunately, there is help at hand in the unlikely shape of resident ghost Soot (Matthew Allen) and they devise ways to ensure that Alberta does not get her wicked way. There are setbacks on the way with Detective Straws (Elan Retsof) being of little help to the victims and Alberta seems to have won the day.
Will Soot and Stella turn the tables? How will Wagner become very involved? All will be revealed. And even if the younger members of the audience have already read the book there are still enough twists and turns to keep them guessing.
Those with even just a passing knowledge of Walliams’ works will know that his storylines are over the top and toilet humour is to the forefront and a stage adaptation has to acknowledge this. Rest assured that Walliams should give his utmost approval to this production.
The action is frenetic and the delivery is suitably over the top. Cordoni is perfect as the almost-teenager Stella, Allen is a bundle of energy who interacts well with his audience and Abrahams is on point as the villain of the piece. Special mention too to the excellent puppetry from Essery and the work of Frankie Oldham who as the buffoon butler Gibbon provides comical interludes as the set is changed between scenes.
The set is a magical piece of kit as a few simple blocks can rotate to provide a multiplicity of locations both inside and outside the house and the stage setting is enhanced by some effectively creative lighting.
As for the humour it had the children shrieking in laughter throughout and there was enough in the action and humour to keep the parents entertained too.
A thread that runs through the play is that childhood is a special time. No adult can see Soot and once Stella turns thirteen her older self is unable to be involved in the mysteries of the other worlds. This leads to sadness at the story’s end but she is implored to keep the magic.
For many in the audience this would have been the first time to attend a theatre. Hopefully, this super production will encourage them to embrace the magic over and over again.