The Roald Dahl Story Company today announces three exciting new theatre productions:
- A new musical for young audiences of The Enormous Crocodile, co-produced with Leeds Playhouse and Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
- A new theatrical reading of Roald Dahl’s The Magic Finger presented for online release for schools and families, co-produced with the Unicorn Theatre.
- A spectacular large-scale circus, which is currently in development, inspired by Roald Dahl’s stories and featuring a range of beloved characters.
The productions have been created and developed by the Roald Dahl Story Company’s in-house theatre division. Led by Artistic Director Jenny Worton and Executive Producer Anna Schmitz, the theatre division was set up in 2018 to create and produce innovative productions inspired by Roald Dahl stories in collaboration with world-class artists and leading theatre producers.
These productions join a major new musical of The Witches, co-produced with the National Theatre, which was announced last month, to form a growing slate of new theatre adapted from Roald Dahl’s work. Alongside these shows the Roald Dahl Story Company currently has a further four productions under commission and development.
Executive Producer Anna Schmitz and Artistic Director Jenny Worton said: “We couldn’t be more excited to be able to reveal these new productions, which demonstrate our ambitions in making new work. Far beyond simply ‘putting the book on stage’, we want to create original pieces of theatre, which both capture the timeless appeal, characters and spirit of Roald Dahl stories and speak powerfully to today’s audiences. From puppetry to musicals, free digital productions to large-scale events we’re working across theatrical forms and collaborating with extraordinary artists and producers to create shows that will illuminate the original stories in a new way, inspiring the next generation of theatregoers.”
Talking about The Enormous Crocodile and The Magic Finger they added, “With The Enormous Crocodile we wanted to make a show that speaks to four-year-olds, delights their older siblings and treats their parents to some brilliant music. The music is like Dahl’s stories in its capacity to capture audiences of all generations. It is at once dark, funny and compulsively moreish!
“We are passionately committed to reaching new audiences with our work and are delighted that the online storytelling production of The Magic Finger will ensure that young people from all backgrounds can enjoy a theatricalised reading of this story in their classroom for the first time.”
The Enormous Crocodile is at Leeds Playhouse’s Courtyard Theatre 2 December 2023 – 6 January 2024.
The Magic Finger will be released online for free to schools and families across the UK and beyond from Spring 2024.
