THE BFG

Chichester Festival Theatre

★★★★

“a production designed to entertain while celebrating imagination, dreams and friendship”

A young girl, a lonely giant and a world of dreams collide in this imaginative stage version of The BFG. Adapted by Tom Wells with additional material by Jenny Worton, the production brings Roald Dahl’s beloved story to the stage with a blend of puppetry, theatrical ingenuity and mischievous humour.

The story centres on Sophie, an orphan troubled by sleepless nights, who encounters the Big Friendly Giant during one of his midnight wanderings. Swept away to Giant Country, Sophie (Martha Bailey Vine) gradually realises that her captor, the BFG (John Leader), is not like the other giants who roam the world in search of children to devour. Instead he spends his nights collecting dreams and survives on the resolutely inedible snozzcumber. As Sophie begins to understand the scale of the threat posed by the other giants, including the blustering Bloodbottler (Richard Riddell), the unlikely pair devise a plan to stop them, one that ultimately involves soliciting the help of the Queen (Helena Lymbery).

Directed by Daniel Evans, the production places its emphasis on theatrical storytelling. The first half takes a little time to find its momentum as it establishes the world of giants and dreams, but once past this scene-setting the show settles into a livelier rhythm. Much of its charm lies in an inventive play with scale and perspective, using props, video and puppetry to evoke a world shared by giants and humans. From the magical doll’s house orphanage to lantern-like silhouettes of London landmarks and the decidedly unappetising snozzcumbers, the design constantly toys with proportion.

Central to this approach is the use of both human performers and puppet versions of characters to emphasise scale. The puppetry, designed and directed by Toby Olié with co-designers Daisy Beattie and Seb Mayer, provides a clever theatrical solution to the story’s shifting perspectives. It works particularly well in scenes between Sophie and the BFG. At times it becomes a little confusing, particularly when both puppet and human versions appear on stage together without an obvious narrative reason, but it remains an imaginative response to the story’s visual challenges.

At its centre is John Leader as the BFG. Balancing physical performance with the puppet’s presence, Leader brings awkward humour alongside a gentler melancholy, capturing the character’s mixture of innocence and quiet resilience. Sophie, played on press night by Martha Bailey Vine, captures the character’s blend of curiosity, vulnerability and determination. Helena Lymbery brings comic authority to the Queen, moving from a lonely monarch attended by her butler Tibbs (Sargon Yelda) to a decisive problem-solver once Sophie and the BFG arrive at Buckingham Palace. Philip Labey and Luke Sumner are particularly funny as the Queen’s guards, Captain Smith and Captain Frith, their elaborate moustaches becoming a running gag that lands equally well in both human and puppet form. Richard Riddell relishes the brutish swagger of the Bloodbottler, while Sophie’s friend Kimberley is played on press night by Uma Patel, bringing warmth and charm to the role and ending the play with a delightful sense of wonder, celebrating both her and the audience’s love of the magical.

The visual world is shaped by designer Vicki Mortimer, whose set moves fluidly between orphanage dormitory, Buckingham Palace and the strange landscape of Giant Country, while costumes by Kinnetia Isidore reflect the production’s playful, dreamlike aesthetic. Lighting by Zoe Spurr, video design by Akhila Krishnan and illusions by Chris Fisher help shift the tone from shadowy night-time encounters to the bright absurdity of the royal court. Music by Oleta Haffner and sound design from Carolyn Downing support the production’s blend of humour and unease, while movement direction by Ira Mandela Siobhan gives the giants and dream sequences a distinctive physical language. The puppets themselves are brought vividly to life by a skilled team of performers including Ben Thompson, Shaun McCourt, Elisa de Grey, Onioluwa Taiwo, Fred Davis, Corey Mitchell, Parkey Abeyratne and Sonya Cullingford.

Evans’s staging keeps the focus firmly on the unlikely friendship at the centre of the story, delivering a production designed to entertain while celebrating imagination, dreams and friendship.

THE BFG

Chichester Festival Theatre

Reviewed on 12th March 2026

by Ellen Cheshire

Photography by Marc Brenner

The BFG is a Chichester Festival Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, and Roald Dahl Story Company production

THE BFG

★★★

“They are as talented a bunch of pirates as you’re ever likely to see on the high seas”

This year’s holiday season offering at the Lyceum Theatre is an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s story of piracy on the high seas, and buried treasure. Adapted for the stage by Orkey based writer Duncan McLean, and directed by Wils Wilson, a talented cast of six launch a modern version of Treasure Island set in Leith, in a home for “reformed pirates.”

Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale, written in the nineteenth century, has been adapted countless times for film and television. These are the obvious choices of media for a story that ranges across vast distances, and with a large cast of memorable characters. By modernizing Stevenson’s story, McLean tackles both the difficulty of adapting Treasure Island for the stage, and reducing the number of characters to a manageable size. In a home for “reformed pirates”, we meet a contemporary version of the boy Jim Hawkins, who has been left in charge of a bunch of unruly pirates. To pass the time, they tell a story of their swashbuckling days. The cast of six take on various roles, including pirates, a castaway, Jim’s mum—and let’s not forget the puffin. McLean has cleverly updated Long John Silver’s iconic parrot to a bird well known to Orkney Islanders. The puppet puffin plays a major role. This version of Treasure Island is presented in a dramatic form that will be familiar to fans of Kneehigh Theatre. So there’s plenty to look at as the cast deftly goes about transforming the space on stage. From a pirate “home” to a ship at sea, and the ultimate destination, a “treasure” island, the cast are constantly on the move, and that includes climbing up and down a variety of multi-purpose ladders.

The cast themselves are very representative of a modern theatre company. The role of Long John Silver has been transformed into Lean Jean Silver, and Amy Conachan brings all of Silver’s memorable villainy to her interpretation, as she wheels herself nimbly around the stage. She has a lovely singing voice too. Jim is played by Jade Chan, and the rest of the company Tim Dalling (Ben Gunn), TJ Holmes (The Laird), Itxaso Moreno (Billy Bones) and Dylan Read (puppeteer for The Puffin) not only act, but sing and play a variety of musical instruments. They are as talented a bunch of pirates as you’re ever likely to see on the high seas. Set and costume designer Alex Berry has made an equally versatile creations for the actors to play in. Tim Dalling’s compositions range from hearty pirate songs to plaintive ballads. And the puppet designers, directors and makers (Ailsa Dalling, Sarah Wright and Julia Jeulin) have created a delightful puffin who will charm audiences of all ages.

In spite of the updates, though, McLean’s adaptation falls short. It is too long for the slender premise of telling stories to prevent pirates from backsliding into their piratical ways. There is too much of an assumption that the audience is familiar with the novel. And it’s true that Long John Silver’s parrot, “X” marks the spot, and any number of phrases from Stevenson’s classic novel have passed into common usage. Though these days, audiences are more likely to associate ‘“X” marks the spot’ with Indiana Jones, rather than Jim Hawkins. This version of Treasure Island compresses the plot, as it has to do, given the length of the novel, but not in a way that clarifies the story. Moving the action to Scottish locations doesn’t help all that much. McLean’s Treasure Island is still Jim Hawkins’ story, but Jim himself has been transformed from a boy in search of a father figure after his own has died, to a boy who has to take over running his absent mother’s home for reformed pirates. Somehow, it’s not quite the same.

Treasure Island is a bold choice of a show for a theatre wishing to move away from more conventional Christmas fare, but audiences looking for something that celebrates the holiday spirit may feel that this show would be better saved for another time of year.

Tag Archives: Ailsa Dalling

THE BFG

★★★★

Chichester Festival Theatre

THE BFG

Chichester Festival Theatre

★★★★

“a production designed to entertain while celebrating imagination, dreams and friendship”