James and the giant peach

Two minutes with Huntingdon born Giovanna Ryan, who grew up in Cambridge:

26 | October 24, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

Just peachy

The critical list: more hot ticketsTheatre/FamilyRound-up

� ILLUSTRATOR, model maker and‘imagineer’ Jonny Boatfield will beon hand to help make a huge modelbus (and some bizarre and colourfulpassengers), as part of the Big Drawin Burwell on Thursday, October 31.Taking place at the Gardiner MemorialHall from 10am until 4pm, pop alongto the free family event to invent anddecorate some large scale models orcreate your own adventure themedpicture – you’ll get to take it home! Formore information email education@burwellmuseum.org.uk or call07714169062.

� ACOUSTIC artist Lucy Ward is just 23and plays guitar, ukulele and concertina.Considered “Britfolk’s most vibrant andforthright new young talent,” by MOBO,her second album, Single Flame, cameout this summer to much critical acclaim(meaning the Guardian is a fan). Catchher at the Cambridge Folk Club at theGolden Hind on Milton Road on Friday,October 25. Support act EdwardAlice, anacoustic band from Cambridge, are fairlynew to the scene and cite The Beatles,Nizlopi and Jack Johnson as inspirations.Yes, that does sound like a bizarre mix,but give them the benefit of the doubt.Entry is £11 on the door. Visit www.cambridgefolkclub.org for details.

� THE organisers of the CambridgeSummer Music Festival are hostingMusic in Quiet Places this autumn– a series of concerts held in localchurches. The next event is being heldat St Vigor’s Church, Fulbourn, and willshowcase the talents of the CarducciQuartet who will be playing threeclassics of the String Quartet repertoire:Haydn (Op 20 No 5), Shostakovich(Quartet No 4) and Beethoven (Op59, No 2) on Saturday, October 26, at7.30pm. Tickets are £6- £14 from www.cambridgesummermusic.com.

� WITH crazy eyes and even crazier hair,comedian Vikki Stone is Definitely oneto watch (see what I did there? Her newshow is called Definitely. Got it?). A mix ofcomedy, songs and with a tonne of props,the comic is popping up all over the placeat the minute and the Observer put herdown as one of the top acts to see at thissummer’s Edinburgh Fringe. Missed herin Scotland? Don’t miss her in Cambridge.Check her out on Friday, October 25, atCambridge Junction. Tickets cost £13from (01223) 511511.

� James and the GiantPeach, Cambridge ArtsTheatre, Tuesday, October29 – Saturday, November 2 atvarious times. Tickets £12.50-£17.50 from (01223) 503333/ cambridgeartstheatre.purchase-tickets-online.co.uk

Can you describe all yourdifferent roles in Jamesand the Giant Peach?

I start off by playing the tourguide who opens the show

and invites the audience intothe New York world where

we end up at the end of theshow. Then I play many things:James’s mum, a cameraman, asea gull, a shark, a ship’s captainand a cloud man. I think that’s it!

Which is the most fun to play?The sharks are great. I wouldn’t want togive everything away but we have a veryexciting dance routine as sharks.Do you actually get eaten by arhinoceros as James’s mum?Yes! But it’s done with puppets!How magical is the production?We have a very, very creative team.If you come and see the show youcan see into the wings, so you get the

backstage experience as well which isquite nice. You’ve got to make a peachgrow and a peach fly and it’s very cleverthe way that they’ve done that.

What was your favourite Dahl bookgrowing up?

I really liked quite a controversial one;my mum always read us The Giraffe, thePelly and Me, but also I loved Matilda.I think every little girl who likes to readloves Matilda.

One of the greatest of Roald Dahl’s tales,James and the Giant Peach (not thatit’s truly possible to pick a favourite and

stick with it when it comes to Dahl), is comingto the Cambridge Arts Theatre next week inthe form of an ingenious show complete witha technically wondrous spherical contraption– yep, an absolutely huge peach.Ella Walker caught up with Tom Gillies, who isplaying James, and fellow cast member andlocal lass Giovanna Ryan, to find out more.“The old man that gives James the magicalbag of crocodile tongues, on the face of it,can seem very benevolent, but you have tothink, does he have an agenda?” actor TomGillies muses. “In some of Dahl’s originalconceptual work for James, the old maninitially wanted one of James’s legs in returnfor the bag. And it’s not the first time; Jamesspies one of his hands and it’s the smoothhand of a child, so this is perhaps his way ofachieving immortality.”That portion of Dahl’s classic tale of anorphan, a giant peach, a gaggle of seagullsand a motley collection of oversized insects,was dropped for being a tad too macabre,but, Tom adds: “There are still hintsof that there. What overall is

quite a positive encounter has that unsettlingbackbone behind it.”But it’s the sinister dark edge, rubbing upagainst the lightness of adventure, that makesJames and the Giant Peach stick in yourmind.“It’s such an iconic children’s role,” says Tom,admitting how big a responsibility – and aprivilege – it is taking on the part of James.“It’s a character that a lot of people feel likethey know and love, and as an actor I get tobat to be a worthy contender for their favouriteinterpretation, in spite of stiff competition.”His favourite Dahl creation – if he hasto choose – is anything Charlie and theChocolate Factory related. “I absolutely lovedthe Jean Wilder movie from the 70s, so muchso I think I wore out my VHS copy, and thefirst Dahl book I read happened to be thesequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator,which was great because I always wondered,when they go off up into the sky, what now?What happens next for Charlie Bucket?“At the time I had a real fascination withspace so it was great it was set there with theVermicious Knid too.”The most triumphant aspect of this productionby the Birmingham Stage Company is, of

course, the peach itself, which appears inseveral incarnations. “We have a peach thatwe inhabit, peaches that inflate, we evenhave audience participation. . .” says Tommysteriously.“A lot of people said to me at the outset, howon earth are you going to stage that?” headds. “Some of the design work that’s beendone is great. It takes a lot of its inspirationfrom Heath Robinson, primarily known for hisdrawings of very grand, strange contraptionsthat usually fill quite a simple purpose in quiteconvoluted ways, so you’ll have lots of handson deck and ladders and pulleys and ropesand all that which is wonderfully quirky andsuits Dahl down to a T.”Is the show as fun and magical as you’dimagine stepping into Dahl’s world would be?“Oh absolutely, absolutely,” Tom buzzes.“You’ve got the magic, the underdog, theunlikely hero story, and some really polarisingcharacters. James’s aunts Spiker and Spongeare truly two of the most horrible characters inchildren’s literature.“There’s a lot of laughs, larger than lifecharacters and touching moments as well soit’s a really – it sounds terribly cliché – but awhirlwind of emotions and novelty.”

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