Show: Awful Auntie
Format: Family Show
Genre: Comedy
Date: August 29 2018
Location: Empire Theatre, Liverpool, England
So, Awful Auntie follows on from last year’s much-lauded Gangsta Granny (for which you can read our review by clicking here).
Awful Auntie
Description Of Awful Auntie
It begins with music that sets the scene, with a newsreel showing Saxby Hall and the Saxby family in happy circumstances. From there, we’re introduced to a girl, Stella Saxby (Georgina Leonidas), who wakes up from a coma confused as to what has happened, and why she is all bandaged up and unable to move. We then meet the strange Aunt Alberta (Timothy Speyer), who comes in and explains that, sadly, her parents perished in a car accident and she has been asleep for three months with broken bones. Noticeably, there is no empathy shown by this “Awful” Aunt.
Stella then tries and succeeds to get out of bed and out of her bandages with no injuries. She finds it strange that she is locked in her room, but she manages to get out. There’s a very intimidating and large owl named Wagner who is Aunt’s pride and joy. There is also an old family butler called Gibbon (Richard James), who seems to be in a world of his own, oblivious of the surrounding actions taking place. Puppets of the central characters are also occasionally used to illustrate certain scenes.
Sinister
There is quite a sinister tone to some scenes, and to the story as a whole really. It feels like an adult-orientated plot that receives a santisation for a younger audience. Aunt catches Stella and locks her in the cellar. Meanwhile, Aunt reveals that she wants the deeds to the Saxby Hall house all for herself. Yet Stella isthe only person that knows where they are. She’s upset, but she then hears a voice. Stella becomes afraid, as she always believed that Saxby Hall was haunted. It turns out she was right, because we then meet a ghost called Soot (Ashley Cousins, who also appeared in Gangsta Granny).
Soot comes down the chimney and explains that he died whilst cleaning the chimney as a child; somebody lit a fire, and the smoke killed him. Soot talks in cockney rhyming slang early on, and the adults can’t see Soot; only the children can, but as Lady Stella was about to turn 13, they have to work quickly to prevent Aunt taking control of the house. Stella asks for Soot’s help to escape her Aunt, and reveals that the deeds are in the books of the “Rules Of Tiddlywinks”, as she always made up her own rules and cheated at the game; she’d never look in the book!
Phone
They eventually managed to phone the police as they discover Aunt was lying and that she may have poisoned Stella’s parents, which is why they crashed. The “police” detective comes the next day, but acts very strange. It turns out that Detective “Strauss” is actually Aunt in disguise, and she had overheard all of the conversations between Stella and Soot (albeit not being able to see or hear Soot herself). She locks Stella in an electric shock cage, which she activates several times (again a bit strong for a kid’s show). Soot gets her out, but the “detective” already has the deeds, and now Stella just has to sign them.
Stella is distraught when Aunt reveals her true plans, and especially when she learns that Soot was actually her uncle (more on that shortly), and had been missing for many years. Aunt reveals that she’s going to burn down Saxby Hall and make it an owl museum (or an “owleum”). Stella and Soot fight back by playing tricks on her while she’s asleep (such as replacing soap with shoe polish, putting ants in her pants and making her urine splash back onto her).
Escape
Aunt is angry, but Stella escapes and makes it to the family car with Soot helping her to drive away. Aunt follows them on her motorbike. (The vehicles are very authentic and effective for these scenes.) But the car stops at a standstill on a frozen lake, which sinks the car and its passengers. Aunt calls on Wagner to save Stella, but only after she agrees to sign the deeds (Soot dies in this scene, despite being a ghost).
Going back to Soot’s history: from a young age, Aunt was jealous of the boys as they would inherit Saxby Hall, so she put Baby Herbert in a box and floated him down the river. However, strangers found him and put him in a children’s home. He later became a chimney sweep, ending up back at Saxby Hall where he would clean chimneys, thus leading to his “real” death. So, Soot was Stella’s uncle Herbert.
Nowadays
Back to the present day. Aunt is now ready to get rid of Stella. And they end up on the roof where Aunt falls off. She begs for help, promising to turn over a new leaf. So, a remorseful Stella saves her (dumb move), but she pulls Stella over as well. But Wagner (who now knows that Aunt plans to kill the owl and stuff it for the owleum) saves Stella! This means that Aunt drops into the water below, ridding her once and for all. Wagner then rescues Soot, and Stella tells him she’s going to turn Saxby Hall into an orphanage. But with her birthday about to begin, she can no longer see Soot. Yet he promises to always be with her.
Analysis Of Awful Auntie
The play overall is quite dark and could be scary for younger kids. One child screamed when Aunt made a surprise appearance on the roof! There is clever use of scenery, and the diminished lights add to the sinister effects. I liked the use of puppets, which makes sense as the plot progresses and we see scenes where the puppets are a necessity. There are amusing scenes, but not much in the way of laugh-out-loud comedy. The audience seemed prepared to enjoy some big moments of humour, but there weren’t that many, especially in the first half.
When the tone did reach this point midway through the second half, the kids on hand were laughing a lot, so the opportunity was there to get such a reaction, but it wasn’t as prevalent as it could have been. I was also a bit confused by some elements of the story. For example, we learn early on that it’s December 21, so theoretically there’s a connection to Christmas. But with the exception of the cold weather conditions, this isn’t relevant again. And despite the name of the show, it seemed odd that in the show’s closing ceremony, it was Aunt – the villain – that took the final bow.
Summary Of Awful Auntie
Awful Auntie has already proven to be a huge literary success for its writer David Walliams. So, the show definitely has an audience. And the production itself is of a high standard, as are the acting performances. To me, there should be more consideration about the storytelling and especially the tone and infrequent use of humour. Had that happened, this could have been a must-see show for the young ‘uns. As it is, Awful Auntie is still worth checking out. But I personally preferred Gangsta Granny. And I expect that many others would feel the same way.
