Newcastle’s Northern Stage has announced its biggest ever Christmas show, David Wood’s stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s first children’s novel, James and the Giant Peach, which will run from 19 November to 31 December.
It’s the biggest, not just because it’s about a giant peach but because it will occupy both Stage 1 and Stage 2.
“James and the Giant Peach is a massive show which deserves to be on a massive stage,” said Mark Calvert who again directs the venue’s Christmas show, “so for the first time in Northern Stage’s history we’re using both of our stages combined into one huge space to tell one story. It’s so exciting to be working on this scale, taking the audience on an epic adventure that deals with being lonely and discovering how important friends and family are, which is not a bad tale to tell at Christmas time.
“I’ve always wanted to direct a Roald Dahl story. As a child I saw Rik Mayall read George’s Marvellous Medicine and from that moment I was in. The characters Roald Dahl draws and the situations they’re put in are packed full of imagination, darkness and magic. He really gets what it is to be a child, and how the world and adults look through children’s eyes.”
The production will be designed by the Rhys Jarman (whose credits include Institute for Gecko), with original music inspired by big bands and swinging Broadway musicals of the 1940s and '50s composed by Jeremy Bradfield and performed live by the 14-strong cast. Choreography is by former Phoenix Dance Theatre member Martin Hylton and lighting is by Colin Grenfell (who lit the Improbable / Northern Stage Tempest).
The cast includes four members of The Letter Room which was the first company to come out of Northern Stage’s NORTH programme, designed to support and develop young talent in the region. They are Stan Hodgson (Five Feet in Front) as James, Alice Blundell (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Northern Stage), Michael Blair (Mr Scratch, Northern Stage) and Maria Crocker (Jumping Puddles, Open Clasp / Frantic Assembly).
They are joined by Clara Darcy (Brassed Off, York Theatre Royal & national tour), Tim Dalling (Up and Out, Christmas Sprout, Northern Stage), Jeremy Bradfield (the Wizard in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Northern Stage) and Lana Walker, a recent graduate of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, making her professional debut at Northern Stage. There will also be a chorus of performance students from Newcastle College.
The recommended age range for the show is 5 to 11 years.