David Walliams has become a very successful children’s author and the Awful Auntie adaptation from the Birmingham Stage Company is a delight to watch from start to finish.

The show begins with young Stella waking up in bed after being in a 3 month coma and her Aunt Alberta tells her the awful truth about a car accident with her parents and that she was the only survivor.  Of course, Aunt Alberta is pretty awful and what she really wants now is the deeds to the huge mansion they live in.

When Stella wouldn’t tell her Aunt where the deeds are she’s locked in the cellar and this is where she makes friends with a friendly ghost called Soot.  Stella and Soot believe that Aunt Alberta poisoned the family on that fateful day of the car accident and they do what they can to inform the police and drive Aunt Alberta and her screeching pet owl out.  Every mansion has to have a butler and Gibbon is definitely the most bonkers and he just adds to the humour on stage.

The set is just incredible and ever changing.  Throughout the show you will see the cast travel though different rooms in the mansion including the roof and there’s even puppets which are cleverly used to portray scenes which happen outside of Saxby Hall.

I can’t recommend Awful Auntie enough, the cast are hugely talented and the whole audience was completely captivated throughout the performance.

Awful Auntie is produced by the Birmingham Stage Company and they are visiting the Lighthouse from Thursday 21st – Sunday 24th March 2024. 

For more information and tickets, please visit Lighthouse Poole or call the Box Office on 01202 280000.

Age guidance for this show is 5+ and parents should be aware that the show contains smoke, haze, strobe lighting and explosions!

Image credit: Mark Douet