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James and the Giant Peach

Review

Hold the front page! Creepy-crawly drama thrills the kids!

Director Sam Sampson had his work cut out persuading a cast of grown-ups to shed their adult inhibitions and act like kids.

But he seems to have won the battle, judging by the rollicking success of James and the Giant Peach at Havant Arts Centre.

The undoubted stars of Roald Dahl’s magical tale are the evil aunts Spiker and Sponge, played by Sheila Elsdon and Linda Warner with menace and charm.

James’s larger than life pals, a motley collection of creepy-crawlies with human faces, also shine in this HumDrum production.

My children loved the scene where Miss Spider – a leggily energetic Sally Evans – produces yards of silken thread to save the peach from marauding sharks in the middle of the Atlantic.

Ladybird’s wiggling (Claire Stevens) got a special thumbs-up, although James (young Ben Swanson) seemed a little overawed by the proceedings.

Overall verdict? ‘Ten out of ten’, said six-year-old Phoebe emphatically.

Zackary, eight, was anxious as ever to find a reason to disagree with his little sister.

‘No’, he declared. ‘On a scale of one to 1,400 million? 1,400 million!’

The show was so good, they said, that this review should go on the front page of The News. When I explained that it didn’t quite fit the criteria, Phoebe insisted: ‘But Daddy, it was dramatic and exciting!’

Jon Rosamond