Photo courtesy of Mark Douet
The adaptation of the much loved 2013 David Walliams childrens’ book ‘Demon Dentist’ hit The Regent on Thursday of this week, following massively successful shows like ‘Gangsta Granny’ and ‘Billionaire Boy’.
The musical sees friends Alfie and Gabz trying to get to the bottom of mysterious going’s on in the town which has seen the tooth fairy’s usual gift of a shiny coin replaced by items such as worms, rats and toads. The events seem to coincide with the arrival of the terrifying new dentist, Miss Root, fully equipped with syringe, pliers and hissing white cat.
Alfie’s six year hiatus from a dentist visit seems up when a well meaning social worker, Winnie, pays a visit to his widowed father, himself in ill health and insists his appointment with Miss Root is kept.
Sam Varley plays Alfie and ‘definitely not his girlfriend!’ Gabz, is played by Georgia Grant-Anderson. Both were fantastic and had a real rapport. They were so natural in their performance and really carried off their characters very, very well. Sam also was excellent in the touching scenes with James Mitchell who played Alfie’s widowed father.
Miss Root, the Demon Dentist herself, was played by Emily Harrigan and excelled in both acting and vocal performance. She was excellent in the over-the-top villain of the piece. Zain Abrahams was shopkeeper Raj and was brilliantly funny. He had adults and children alike in hysterics and was a joy to watch with his great timing and physical comedy.
Misha Malcolm was lovable social worker, Winnie, whilst Ben Eagle played bumbling policeman PC Plank.
The scenery was excellent, with sets cleverly being shuffled around and inter-linking with one another to shift from living room to school, to high street.
There were a few loud crashes, but certainly, the very young children sat in our vicinity in the audience didn’t seem to mind at all. It is fantastic to have shows like this in our area to get children interested in both live theatre and get them to see the fantastic venues we have in the city.
The show was great to watch with younger kids and older families alike. It has something in there for everyone and is a fantastic way to begin the Easter holiday’s.
It’s on until Sunday, with two performances on Saturday. More details and tickets can be found here: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/demon-dentist/regent-theatre/
Photos courtesy of Mark Douet
