In 1983 famous children's author, Roald Dahl, wrote a book review that condemned the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and this led to him being accused of antisemitism. Mark Rosenblatt's play looks at that period in the writer's life and imagines a conversation among Dahl, Felicity Crosland, his partner, Tom Maschler, his British publisher, and a representative from his American publishers. The goal of the three interveners is to deal with the incident by persuading Dahl to make a strategic apology for his remarks and to avoid any negative affect on his career and the publication of his latest work, The Witches. What ensues is a presentation of Dahl which exposes the corrosive and isolating reality of celebrity. The brilliant, but spoilt, author has created a world in which he is surrounded by people who are unwilling to engage with him honestly but whom he rightly suspects are trying to manipulate him. His tragedy is almost Lear-like as he claims to seek honesty, yet simultaneously creates an atmosphere in which it is rarely present. He bullies and cajoles the young representative of his American publisher into finally offering him her truth, but when he later learns she has been dissembling about other issues, he relegates her to the circle of hypocrisy that he himself has created and continues down the deluded path of his self-destruction. Rosenblatt has written a refreshingly thought-provoking play which, while exposing Dahl's personal dilemma, also explores such issues as whether we can celebrate an artist's work while finding his behaviour repugnant and what is the distinction between being anti-Israeli and being antisemitic. In the latter case, we are given a chilling object lesson as we instinctively feel Dahl cross the line. This is writing of the first order, and it is brilliantly showcased by an extraordinary cast led by John Lithgow as Dahl. Lithgow's performance sets a standard that reminds us of why we go to the theatre, and his fellow cast members rise to that lofty benchmark. As the almost Cordelia-like figure who challenges Dahl, Romola Garai nicely catches the balance between coddling the great man and the need to speak her truth. Her own struggle with offering a strategic apology is movingly relatable. As the Goneril and Regan characters, who in this case actually think they have their friend and partner's best interests at heart, both Rachael Stirling and Elliot Levey are outstanding. Their decision to walk a line, placating Dahl and supposedly protecting his own best interests, nicely reflects a situation familiar to everyone. Giant is must-see theatre not only in the light of current events, but because it reflects an experience that addresses the universal question of the isolating reality of power and how one addresses it.
Rated: ★★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Manuel Harlan
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