Review: Roald Dahl and the Imagination Seekers at The Flamingo

‘Those who don’t believe in magic, will never find it’ Roald Dahl

I, for one, am a magic believer, which is why I adore live theatre.

And these words were beamed in front of us, as if to test our faith during this delightful and captivating children’s show, Roald Dahl and the Imagination Seekers.

Presented by Get Lost & Found Ltd, Puffin and the Roald Dahl Story Company in association with Interactive Theatre International, a UK based theatre company that produces and promotes interactive comedy theatre, the show is an immersive and collective performance between two actors, and the audience.

First commissioned in 2015 by Puffin Books to create a new children’s theatre show based on the works of the world’s number one storyteller Roald Dahl. This show was performed all over the UK and Ireland. In 2019, a collaboration with Roald Dahl Story Company created this new show and has been touring the world since.

Especially conceived for ages six and up, the show fosters both imaginative and literacy skills through performance, games and inventive play, while exploring Dahl’s extraordinary stories, including The BFG and The Twits along the way.

We are told that all around the world Roald Dahl’s words are disappearing not only from books, but from children’s minds too!

Only a secret organisation, called The Ancient Guild of Taletenders can save the stories, but not without our help!

First, we were taught the essential secret salute, and instantly my daughter and her friend were enthralled.

Next, we went the through the all-important way of storing books, to protect them and preserve the words they hold.

We were introduced to the Wordle Goblins – the invisible, mischievous beings that eat words right off the page!

Brenda and Terry, our Taletenders, used a little bit of magic, a sprinkle of ingenuity and an extraordinary amount of joy to engage their young [and old!] audience from start to finish.

My favourite part, and most clever, was when the audience joined in to help Terry get his words back [which were taken from him by the rotten Wordle Goblins].

This required us to create a story built from all our imaginations; we were encouraged by Brenda to call out our ideas and include colours, smells, sounds and size in which Terry physicalised to have our tale played out right in front of our very eyes!

“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts, it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” Roald Dahl

No truer words positively spoken.

A wondrous and engaging way to spend a Sunday afternoon – theatre and education all wrapped into one charming, magical package.

Just how I like it!

Lia Loves.

Reviewed on behalf of TheatreTravels.org – original article posted here