Gangsta Granny is an award-winning book by the very popular comedian, David Walliams. It tells the story of Ben and his boring granny that he has to visit every Friday and because of this Ben dreads Fridays, unlike most people! Until he finds out that his granny has a dark secret. She's also a gangsta... David's books are always hilarious, lightweight and easy-to-read, so no matter how old I get I will also love them. Gangsta Granny was also adapted into a film in 2013 which was equally as funny and popular amongst families. Now it has been adapted into a play and I was lucky enough to go and see it.
Before I went, I had a concern about whether it was going to live up to the film. Normally when I watch a movie and then the theatre production, it's often disappointing because of the change in actors. As I particularly loved all the actors in Gangsta Granny, I was very much expecting it to be a bit weird with different people playing the characters but actually, this was soon forgotten and I fell in love with the other actors too, which I was not expecting.
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| photo via; http://hodgepodgedays.co.uk/theatre-entertainment/david-walliams-gangsta-granny-live/ |
One of things I loved most about this play was the use of set, lighting, music and just how it came to life overall. The set was very cleverly put together, by just flipping one piece of set around the whole stage would be transformed, and they were very innovative with the set, using things like sheets of blue as sea, which I thought looked really cool. Also, when changing from one scene to another instead of just dimming the lights and everyone moving around into the next position, they'd play music and put bright lights up with Ben's parents dancing across the stage, which I thought was a very cool idea.
Finally, I loved this because it captured how funny the book was perfectly. Because Gangsta Granny was such a hilarious and popular book, I thought it would be hard for the theatre adaption to capture all the scenes whilst still providing the watcher with all the laughs they'd get from reading the book, with its slapstick comedy. And, beneath all the laughs, the play provides a very important message about not forgetting the elderly, which I thought was very sweet!
Overall, I would 100% recommend going to see this play if it stops off at a theatre near you (you can see all the theatres it will be showing at here: http://birminghamstage.com/shows/gangsta-granny-by-david-walliams-comes-to-the-stage/tour-info) as I can guarantee that if you liked the book, you'll love the play. Also, it is just as entertaining for adults as it is for children - my mum loved it too!
Thank you to the Wycombe Swan for giving me the opportunity to come and watch the play - I loved it!
I don't live near there, but the play itself sounds really interesting!
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