Review: A night of pure magic and phizz-whizzing fun as BFG is brought alive at Chichester Festival Theatre

To be more expressive, it was certainly a jumpsquiffling show and phizz-whizzing fun as the Chichester Festival Theatre played host to what I would mark down as a must-see for 2026 in the shape of Roald Dahl’s gloriumptious BFG.

It’s the well-known tale of young Sophie, who is snatched from her bed and taken far away to Giant Country. There she learns that human-eating giants are guzzling ‘norphans’ the world over but hatches a plot with a giant who she discovers is both big and friendly to save children everywhere, with a little help from the Queen of England.

But in the hands of director Daniel Evans and puppet designer Toby Olié the classic is taken to a whole new dimension.

In fact there is not just one dimension but three as the tale unfolds in front of your eyes through a trio of remarkably staged perspectives of Sophie, the BFG - who is actually seen as a ‘runt’ in giant sizes - and the much bigger villain of the piece Bloodbottler, with the actors routinely switching places with their incredible puppet ‘doubles’ of various sizes.

Young Martha Bailey Vine is absolutely superb as Sophie, bringing her journey to life from unloved orphan to saviour of children around the planet with a large amount of sass. The only risk of her being upstaged is through her puppet version - I’ve never seen an inanimate object on stage with such an attitude.

John Leader plays the BFG to perfection but there are no weak spots with great performances by Helena Lymbery as The Queen and Sargon Yelda as fastidious butler Tibbs. There is comedy throughout but the scene-stealers when it comes to laughs are the brilliant double act of Philip Labey and Luke Sumner as bumbling but well-meaning moustachioed army captains Smith and Frith.

With an assassin disguised as a black forest gateau, The Queen being used as a football in a game of keepy-uppy and an explosive celebratory breakfast at Buckingham Palace, you get an idea of the mayhem created throughout a show in which the audience spontaneously applauded the culmination of every magical scene.

It was strange going through the programme ahead of the performance and seeing credits for people playing various heads, bodies and arms but as soon as the show starts you get to witness the amazing role played by those who bring all the puppets - giant, big, small and very small - alive with their pinpoint movements. They rightfully had the chance to soak in the standing ovation as the curtain came down.

There is nothing to fault any elements of the performance with mesmerising special effects, slick stage management - starting off with the BFG running around and over a stream of London landmarks - and great musical accompaniment.

It's a stunning show for chiddlers of all ages, you would be frothbuggling to miss out.

The BFG is at Chichester Festival Theatre, until Saturday, April 11. For tickets go to cft.org.uk/events/the-bfg