Although Lithgow’s Dahl starts off relatively calm, there is always the threat that he will boil over without warning. The irritation and discomfort caused by the refurbishment may be the trigger: all too evident on designer Bob Crowley’s graphically chaotic set – a garden room with temporary plastic sheeting awaiting the installation of French windows looking out on the currently unkempt garden. The unfortunate ‘elderly retainer’ Wally (Richard Hope), has just dared to spray the lawn with pesticide, thus incurring Dahl’s wrath, and the audience’s sympathy!
Tom is purportedly visiting for a final proof-read of The Witches. As the play opens, he and Dahl have their heads together inspecting Quentin Blakes’s striking and scary illustrations. There is already an undercurrent of unease and testiness in their conversation, as Dahl resents what he perceives as Blake’s high profile.
And then Jessie, the representative of an influential American firm lined up to publish The Witches in America, arrives. Already dubbed a ‘Manhattenista’ by Tom, she is apologetic for being late, and enthuses over Dahl’s oeuvre. However, the discovery that she is Jewish. along with the much-annotated copy of Dahl’s antisemitic article that falls from her bag as she delves for a pen, are the catalysts for exchanges of ice and fire, as Dahl attacks with searching questions on the nature and depth of her Jewishness and her support for Israel.
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