ROALD DAHL was almost cancelled posthumously last year when Puffin Books tried to sanitise his beloved works. This fizzing new play, Giant, at the Royal Court, could finish the job. It is set in the summer of 1983, when a review by Dahl of a book about Israel’s conduct in the Lebanon War was deemed to be anti-Semitic and provoked ire.
We open chez Dahl in Great Missenden. There is an offstage policeman on the door to see off any threats after some menacing phone calls. Dahl is deep in conversation with his publisher, Tom Maschler (urbane Elliot Levey). They await the arrival of a woman from the American publisher. The place is in disarray, being redecorated by Dahl’s mistress-now-fiancée, Liccy Crossland (played with panache by Rachael Stirling).
Eventually, Jessie Stone arrives, given the full nervy Manhattanite treatment by Romola Garai. Ostensibly come to flatter the great author, in truth she intends more to challenge, worried that Dahl’s apparent anti-Semitism will affect US book sales. Pleasantries out of the way, she wants him to apologise.
John Lithgow as Dahl is spellbinding. Irascible, charming, controlling, and capricious, he owns the stage. The character’s intellectual agility belies his humanity, to which Lithgow brings great physicality. He will mark his 79th birthday this month, and there is no better advert for actors’ dodging retirement. But can we still enjoy the books if we dislike the man Dahl? Is a public author allowed private views? What weight do they carry?
The conflict between Dahl and Stone ratchets up the drama. She is Jewish, of course, female, and a different generation. They try for common ground, but with limited success. This is more the Dahl of those warped short stories for adults than the avuncular writer for children. Stone’s commercial concerns could be dismissed as American, and they tilt at our modern culture wars. The other characters round out that somewhat millennial presentation: Tessa Bonham Jones as the young Antipodean cook Hallie about to go travelling, and the old groundsman Wally (Richard Hope), who brings history and pathos.
It is a Royal Court début for author Mark Rosenblatt, a seasoned director: this is his first play and easily makes him a British David Mamet. Sir Nicholas Hytner directs with his usual class, and Bob Crowley’s design is consistently strong. Everything makes for an impressive cocktail.
Back outside comes the news of Israeli rockets over Lebanon again. The war still rages.
At the Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London SW1, until 16 November. Box office: phone 020 7565 5000. royalcourttheatre.com