The Roald Dahl’s Twi ts adapted by David Wood © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois The “...as gruesomely grotesque as Da hl could ever i have intended” Tw ts . T h e play is set in a circus ring, which offers opportuni- ties for fun and slapstick, as well as spectacle. The narrator acts as ringmas- ter, bringing to life the story of the grotesque, satisfyingly unpleasant couple, Mr. and Mrs. Twit, who enjoy playing nasty tricks on each other. Mr. Twit decides to train monkeys to perform upside down. He goes to the African rainforest and captures a family of monkeys—the Mugglewumps—and incarcer- ates them in a cage. The birds, who nightly roost on the big dead tree, having escaped being caught by the Twits for a bird pie, help the ...“ monkeys escape by tricking the Twits into believing that the world has turned “..... a marvellous upside down. The audience helps too! ing, dancing, mix of sing , Flexible staging. Approximate running pstick and e,, sla time: 1 hour, 45 minutes theatr ion..” audience participat Photos from Belgrade Theatre –-– South Wales Argus featuring Richard J. Fletcher as Mr. Twit and Isabel Ford as Mrs. Twit. Photos: Ian Tilton ISBN 158342172-6 Code: TD6 Cover design: Jeanette Alig-Sergel 9791583 421726 30020 VISIT US AT dramaticpublishing.com © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois THE TWITS by ROALD DAHL Adapted for the stage by DAVID WOOD Dramatic Publishing Woodstock, Illinois • England • Australia • New Zealand © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois *** NOTICE *** The amateur and stock acting rights to this work are controlled exclu- sively by THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY without whose permission in writing no performance of it may be given. Royalty must be paid every time a play is performed whether or not it is presented for profit and whether or not admission is charged. A play is performed any time it is acted before an audience. 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For performance of any songs, music and recordings mentioned in this play which are in copyright, the permission of the copyright owners must be obtained or other songs and recordings in the public domain substituted. ©MMIII by ROALD DAHL NOMINEE LIMITED and DAVID WOOD The Twits By ROALD DAHL Adapted for the stage by DAVID WOOD Printed in the United States of America All Rights Reserved (THE TWITS) For inquiries concerning all other rights, contact: Tom Erhardt, Casarotto Ramsay and Associates Ltd., National House, 60-66 Wardour St., London W1V 4ND Phone: 020 7287 4450 - Fax 020 7287 9128 ISBN: 1-58342-172-6 © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois IMPORTANT BILLING AND CREDIT REQUIREMENTS All producers of THE TWITS must give credit to Roald Dahl as the Au- thor of the Book and David Wood as the Author of the Play in all pro- grams distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all instances in which the title of the Play appears for purposes of advertis- ing, publicizing or otherwise exploiting the Play and/or a production. The names of Roald Dahl and David Wood must also appear on a separate line, on which no other name appears, immediately following the title, and must appear in size of type not less than fifty percent the size of the title type. Biographical information on the Authors, if included in the playbook, may be used in all programs. In all programs this notice must appear: “Produced by special arrangement with DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY of Woodstock, Illinois” © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois ACKNOWLEDGMENT David Wood would like to thank Bob Eaton and Jane Hytch of the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, for commission- ing this play, and Kathi Leahy for directing such a splendid production. **** The Twits was commissioned by the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and first performed there on March 25, 1999 with the following: CAST Mr. Twit .........................ANDY HOCKLEY Mrs. Twit ..........................ISABEL FORD Mr. Muggle-Wump ..............ANTHONY OFOEGBU Mrs. Muggle-Wump...............RACHAEL SAVAGE Roly-Poly Bird ..................JENNY SANDERSON Narrator ...........................DAVID BAKER Children . SOPHIE GABEL, LUCY HAINES, JASON HARVEY, GARY HORNSBY, KELLY HYNES, LISA KELLY, SHAZEER MAHMOOD, SOPHIE MAJROWSKI, SABRINA MOUSTAKIM, STEPHANIE NICELY, LUKA OWEN and ALEXANDER SMITH PRODUCTION STAFF Producer............................JANE HYTCH Director ...........................KATHI LEAHY Assistant Director....................KAY FELLOWS Designer ...........................TOM CONROY Lighting Designer .................WESLEY HISCOCK Choreography by.......JILL FREEMAN and KATHI LEAHY © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois PRODUCTION NOTES Most of the cast need to be physical performers. The Muggle- Wump family should all be fairly acrobatic. It is possible that the Roly-Poly Bird should be able to fly on a trapeze. Mrs. Twit will have to be flown on a rope. Mr. Twit will need to be agile, particularly when he glues the branches of the tree. The Narrator/Musician links the story. He could be a multi- instrumentalist, complete with mad percussion kit noises as well as keyboard, who can also project as an outgoing presenter. There could be several Birds on each rod, so that four or five children can create quite a flock! They should be different colours and sizes, fantasy birds rather than realistic garden birds, which might look rather drab. But they should not prove any competition for the Roly-Poly Bird, who should be flamboyant and brightly coloured. Two rods carry black birds (one on each rod) holding paintbrushes in their beaks. CONCEPT The challenge, as I see it, of adapting this book is that many of the episodes are so “gross” that to play them for real would probably not be as effective as playing them in a stylised up- front, presentational manner. The fact that the book tells us that Mr. and Mrs. Twit once trained monkeys in a circus suggested the idea of setting the whole play within a circus ring. This means that certain key episodes can be played almost as circus acts. However, there is a danger in this. It would be wrong to make light of the unpleasantness and cruelty of the Twits, because we must get our children’s audience well and truly on the side of the animals. There will be many times when we want to play for a more convincing sense of danger than in, for instance, the of- ten winking, conspiratorial (with the audience) comedy-style © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois performance often given by villains in pantomime. We have to find the right balance. The use of our Narrator as a linking device will hopefully have echoes of the role of a circus ringmaster, taking us from one act to the next; if necessary, setting the scene and filling in certain elements of the story which would otherwise be difficult to stage. It is also worth mentioning that the circus style will be im- posed upon a through story-line, which must be preserved; the play mustn’t appear to be just a series of turns. But hopefully we can get the best of both worlds—the excitement of the cir- cus, coupled with the dramatic momentum of a story enacted with a combination of “truth” and “big” acting. The more physical skills that can be incorporated into the production the better. SET A circus ring, with access from the sides and possibly the back. The Narrator/Musician must be on stage. He will need to be able to roam, but never be too far away from his instruments, which will often punctuate as well as follow his announcements and links. The original production gave him an enormous tricy- cle to ride round on. There are three main, large set pieces, which ideally will be on trucks. They should not be visible at the beginning of the play, but will be brought in at various points in Act I. (Please note: the original production successfully kept the caravan and the tree on stage from the very beginning; only the cage “en- tered” during the action.) The set pieces are: © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois The Twits’ caravan. Ideally this will be able to revolve or open up at the front, revealing their living accommodation. In Act II, the whole of the interior needs to revolve (not necessar- ily in vision), so that we can see the room upside down. Hope- fully the caravan will be large enough for the Twits to stand in- side. However, individual scenes at, for example, their dining ta- ble, can be played outside the caravan, further down in the cir- cus- ring acting area.