FYI
Twisted Tales is 80 minutes with no interval, so even though you might think of Dahl as a children's author, and one of the most special, this is a play for those 14 and up. For Dahl can get dark, as you'll soon find out... In this stage adaption of some of his more savage and surreal stories by Jeremy Dyson of 'The League of Gentlemen'.
Dyson has done a good run of Ghost Stories, also for the Lyric, so he's no dark, shrouded stranger to the stage, but not all of Dahl's stories translate that easily into action as it's the imagination they're there to colour. So they've been tied together by a camel coated stranger who joins the commuter carriage of a train and starts telling tales, which are quickly played out before your eyes with the help of a revolving stage. And some of them are quite scary, with gruesome and macabre touches inserted every which where.
Dahl's nasty streak isn't solely gore, he does a juicy line in revenge as well. There's even an autobiographical bit about being a young boy at his old school having to do for the prefects. If you like your theatre short, sharp and shocking then this one is for you.
