It begins with Sophie frozen in a horizontal shaft of blue light. There is a howl of wind and the sound of distant dogs barking. A clock ticks loudly. A masked figure holding a balloon shuffles across the stage. A shadow parade of giants is glimpsed on the back wall. An umbrella spills bubbles of glitter. It’s like being trapped inside a dream, something mysterious and witchy.
The first 10 minutes of Teresa Ludovico’s retelling of Roald Dahl’s whizz-popper of a story about orphan Sophie and the Big Friendly Giant, who together defeat the child-guzzling giants with a little help from the Queen, is so good that you fear it will never be able to sustain itself. Sadly, the fear is justified.
A show that uses circus to terrific effect, Ludovico’s production renders David Wood’s admirable adaptation of the tale pretty much unrecognisable. This is an evening that is far more imaginative and confident when it is using visual language than it is with dealing with words.
At it’s very best, it has a touch of the strange, sometimes sinister worlds of James Thierrée, or of every dream you’ve ever had but can only half remember. Or perhaps nightmares. Robert Innes Hopkins’ child-eating giants are suggested by terrifying, outsized warty feet and hands. A gobbled schoolboy becomes a mere fragment of bloodied cloth. This probably isn’t a show for the youngest members of the family.
All of this is terrific. But the storytelling is oddly disjointed and lacking in clarity, and until the second half when the Queen and her corgi are much in evidence the show lacks not just laughter but also warmth. This BFG is never quite lovable enough, and while the show is very good on the darker aspects of Dahl’s story, it never captures its rumbustious, rude joy.
• Until 24 January. Box office: 0121-236 4455. Venue: Birmingham Rep.
