Worms in your spaghetti, an eyeball in your beer and a whole book of nasty, dirty tricks, The Twits love to taunt each other, and their unappealing personalities shine through to their exterior. The classic Roald Dhal play comes to The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre on 13-15 July.

Returning to the Capital region for a second season of the show is shake & stir theatre co. After a sell-out run last time, they wanted to ensure everyone gets a chance to see the gruesome twosome live in action. With an impressive stage design, costume department and props, the show captures the essence of the mean-spirited circus owners. Word is, a few monkeys will be on stage, too. 

“There’s a line in The Twits about how you think good thoughts and you think good things about other people, then that shines out of your face like some beans. And I think our lighting designer Jason has taken that literally,” says Mr Twit, Kieran McGrath.

Loving his time as Mr Twit, the actor says the beauty of bringing Roald Dahl stories to the stage is that it’s a great twist on children’s entertainment. Not coddling or talking down to them, Mr McGrath says it meets them right where they want to have fun – and then takes it even further.

“They absolutely love the message of it,” he says. “They love the nastiness of the pranks. The Twits, they do pranks on each other and as an audience we watch it and think it’s kind of funny, it’s silly, it’s an expression of how they are nasty. I think the nasty tricks and silly fun things are the things kids grasp the most,” he says.

The theatre company has established a relationship with the Roald Dahl Story Company, bringing a number of the productions to stages around Australia and New Zealand. Mr McGrath says the experience is one that families can share together, with many parents having grown up with the literature, poetry and gross appeal of the books.

“Roald Dahl does a lot about human nature; like The Twits think nasty thoughts so they do nasty things and they look nasty because they think nasty … You treat people how you want to be treated – it’s a universal idea that he gets at, people’s human nature and how nasty they can be. People get their comeuppance and I think we like to see that,” he says.

For Mr McGrath, it was The Witches that sparked the Dahl bug; watching the film starring Angelica Houston, he remembers being terrified of their transformation to witches. However, now that he is older, he appreciates the puppetry of the scenes, the practical effects that would now be CGI, and says they try to capture that magic on the stage.

“There’s a scene where Mrs Twit, to get back at Mr Twit, puts worms in his spaghetti and we have a very fun and very messy wormy spaghetti scene which is one of my favourites. I’m pulling worms and spaghetti out of my beard for most of the rest of the show,” he laughs.

Mr McGrath smiles as he says he is a tad concerned his nephews might cause his sister some grief playing pranks on each other the next few months. But that’s is the fun of it; the show is one for all ages – and parents won’t be checking emails at this one.

“Sometimes the adults enjoy it even more than the kids. There’s so much in there that our adapter Nelle Lee, has put into the script that is really, without going over the heads of the kids completely, it really speaks to them as well.”

Usually playing happy and cheery people because that is his nature, Mr McGrath was excited to take on a role that was the complete opposite that that, relishing the chance to be a gross, nasty, old bloke. 

“When I was learning how to do all of this, I was taught that you find the joy in all the things that are really disgusting and this has been a really cool opportunity to find just how joyful and fun being a hideous monster can be,” Mr McGrath smiles.

Be disgusted and delighted by The Twits at The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, 13-15 July; theq.net.au

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