The Bigger The Fart The Bigger The Laugh!

He now appears to have cornered the market in humour for youngsters and, despite being one of the biggest names in ‘adult’ comedy with three BAFTAs to his name, David Walliams is back as 2024’s answer to Roald Dahl with a stage version of his deliciously dastardly book, Awful Auntie.

It wasn’t the largest house at Bradford’s Alhambra but when Aunt Alberta (Neal Foster), squatted, concentrated and brought forth large tranches of wind, there was another eruption in the stalls: that of the kids’ laughter!

And therein lies the magic of Walliams’ books which, for whatever reason, capture the spirit of childhood imagination in their pages, with winners like Gangsta Granny, Billionaire Boy and Demon Dentist.

And he has entrusted Birmingham Stage Company’s Actor/Manager, Neal Foster, adaptor and co-director of this latest offering, to bring several of his works to life for the stage including those mentioned above and now Awful Auntie.

And what a brilliant set Jacqueline Trousdale has devised to maintain the continuity of this ‘live on stage’ show which, somehow, keeps moving seamlessly and you don’t even notice it happening!

Annie Cordoni as Lady Stella Saxby, is the sole survivor of a car crash in which mum and dad die. She is set to inherit all the cash and stately home, only Awful Auntie Alberta, looking distinctly like a bloke in plus fours, wants it for herself.

Her ghostly mate, Soot (Matthew Allen), official spook of Saxby Hall, with a penchant for cockney rhyming slang, comes to her aid and auntie’s plot is foiled.

Shows of this type are often the first experience youngsters have of either a big theatre or, indeed, the stage itself and, for that reason, they play an important part in engendering a passion for the stage at a young age.

Awful Auntie is easy, obvious, great fun and a joy for youngsters who don’t want subtlety: they simply want loud, garish characters who are obvious and easy to understand be it Gibbon (Zain Abrahams) the incompetent butler or the equally daft Detective Strauss (Elan Retsof).

Awful Auntie delivers in spades and if you want to fire a young imagination already devoted to Walliams books at bedtime, then look no further than the Alhambra where vivid minds are guaranteed to take flight!

Awful Auntie
Alhambra Theatre, Bradford
Until Saturday 25th May