"George's Marvellous Medicine" by Roald Dahl, adapted by David Wood.

Across The Boards.

Grange Hall, Radcliffe On Trent.

The play tells the story of a young boy called George who is fed up with his Grandmother and wary of her dark secrets. He decides to concoct a special medicine for her, but the results are unexpected.

There'll always be a child hidden deep within every adult and it's plays such as those written by Roald Dahl that joyfully bring the naughty child to the fore.

Possibly one of the darkest of Dahl's scripts where George Kranky and his family get a last minute visit, well a visit without an end date, to their farm. Granny is not the apple pie baking rosy-cheeked elderly lady who smells of Murray Mints and lavender. Oh no, she is a bossy, spiteful, nasty piece of work who bosses George around for being lazy, on his school holidays of all things. She also dislikes George's father, Mr Kranky.

Grandma takes over George's room and likes George to be at her beck and call. This includes the dispensation of her medicine. George decides that her medicine needs upgrading and decides to make his own very special concoction, with some spectacular results. "Growing is a nasty childish habit," she chides George for, but she is soon to have a growing spurt of her own!

This is such a delightful, but deliciously dark, piece of theatre, primarily aimed at children, but is an absolute joy to watch at any age. It has elements of pantomime with call and response from the audience, and this morning's show didn't need much coaxing to get them shouting out, and what sharp memories these youngsters in the audience have regarding the ingredients for this new medicine!

George is played by James Sikora, who is wonderfully child like in the role. After seeing James in panto, it came as no surprise that he is completely at home in this role. It's not just the medicine that is marvellous!

George's Dad is played by Emily Hudson, who has stepped in at the last moment due to Millie Hunt falling ill, so all best wishes for a speedy recovery, Millie. This is another marvellous character driven role, and a brilliantly over the top, without going too far, performance, complete with stuck on, almost Mario style moustache. Very comical and played to the kids in the audience perfectly. The exaggerated physicality was cartoonish which added another layer of comedy to the character.

Mum is played by Celia Bolstridge. Overworked as a mother and farm owner, her Mother's visit is an excellent excuse to use the farm work to get out of being at Grandma's call every five minutes. A lovely "busy" performance with a nice side of comedy which comes to the surface on a regular basis.

Grandma is played by Ellen Loran. It must be great fun to play such a cantankerous character, and Ellen really throws her all into the character, in almost the same way that a panto baddie would. A very clever piece of direction for the growth spurt imagery on Grandma's part.

Emma Nicol plays the Giant Chicken. There's a section in this comedy that is worthy of any Benny Hill sketch where he chases around other cast members to the music of "Yakety Sax". A lovely vision of chaos and confusion is caused at the start of the second part headed by Emma as the Giant Chicken with some lovely chicken strutting physicality, again playing to the audience with fourth wall breaking brilliance.

Directed by Ben Bradley, who is no stranger to writing and directing comedy plays and pantos, so this is right up his creative street. Ben has brought out the lovely juvenility of this novel, while still making this a show that parents can enjoy, as well as relate to. Let's face it, we've all felt the urge to harm a family member at some stage haven't we?.... Just me then?

Great pace, lovely comic timing from the cast, and even when objects materialise in the way of this Director, he swerves them to put on a fabulously entertaining piece of theatre that everyone can have fun with.

Emily Hudson is the Production Manager.

The set has the WOW! factor to be sure. It's like looking at a comic book opened out with an animated design. Even the solid objects like the bed and the chair have that look of it being drawn on paper, reminding us that this was once just a book. Covering the whole length of the stage it encompasses all the rooms where the story takes place. From the outhouse store, the swinging farm doors, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room and through to the exit out into the farm yard. Designed by Nik Hudson.

Costume designs are thanks to Emma Nicol; with a lovely homely farm outfit for the farm worker family, through to Grandma's smart but dated look, the piece de resistance though is the Giant Chicken outfit itself which looked absolutely splendid, especially that wig. Emma is also responsible for the scenic artwork on stage.

The show also features puppetry with the farm animals which are all worked into the show seamlessly and professionally.

Loads of props - just take a good look around the set and count the amount of props there are - is all down to Jennie Birch.

Lighting Designer is Jack Spoors, and I really appreciated the change of lighting to depict the darkness and menace of the action on stage; it really drew you into the action.

Sound Designer is Ben Bradley and there are some very well timed sound and musical effects in this show that flowed in and out of the story brilliantly. Loved the inclusion of "Golden", the Huntr X K-Pop track for one scene in particular, which brought this 1981 novel bang up to date for the youngsters. Some children's novels that are made into plays can seem slightly dated but  this production managed to feel fresh and fun in a modern way.

There's a BSL (British Sign Language) interpreted performance by Lianne Lindsay on Saturday at the 3pm performance, which is also a Relaxed Performance, as well as a Touch Tour at 1.45 pm.

"George's Marvellous Medicine" is back for a repeat prescription on Sunday for a further two shows at 10 am and 2 pm.

I will also thank everyone across the board involved in Across The Boards debut show for being such a lovely, talented and welcoming group, including the Front Of House manager, Beccy Burgess. I can't wait to see what the next step is for this new theatre group.