Bringing David Walliams' brilliant characters to the stage

SussexWorld

Neal Foster isn’t just the adapter and director of Awful Auntie. He’s also appearing in the title role.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers, lovely to

00:06speak to Neil Foster. Now, David Williams' Awful Aunty is on the road, it's coming to

00:10Theatre Broad Brighton from October the 10th to 12th. And Neil, goodness, you've adapted

00:17this, you're directing it, and you are the Awful Aunty. Now, you have a long history

00:22with David Williams, what is it that's so fabulous about putting him on the stage?

00:28Well, at rock bottom, David has written some of the most fantastic stories that we've had

00:33the great privilege and pleasure of producing and touring around the country. The first

00:38one we did of his is his most popular story, Gangster Granny, which went into the West

00:43End twice. We then had Billionaire Boy, Demon Dentist was the most recent, and now Awful

00:49Aunty is out on tour, and it's one of his favourite stories, one of the most popular

00:55stories, and yes, I'm having the great thrill of having the chance to play Aunt Alberta

01:02myself.

01:03How's that happened then? You've not been on stage in these before, have you? But now

01:07you are.

01:08Yes, I think his productions are so, the way we stage them, they're such epic, massive

01:13productions that I've not been able to, much as I would have loved to, played, for example,

01:18I'd love to play the dad in Demon Dentist, I'd love to play the dad actually in Billionaire

01:23Boy. But Awful Aunty, because we did do the production once before in 2017, because I

01:31know it a bit better, and I know what I want to do with it, I was able to give myself the

01:36job of directing it and playing Aunty.

01:40How do you combine those two things?

01:43It's very hard, but I have a wonderful co-director called Ricky Hines, who is also in his own

01:49world, but a movement and fantastic choreographer, director, and he helped me stage the show.

01:56He looked after, essentially, all of the staging and allowed me just to get on with the acting,

02:00and it's worked brilliantly. And we've had a fantastic tour, and Brighton is towards

02:05the end of the tour, so we're really excited to come back.

02:07I suppose the real question is, why wouldn't you want to play Awful Aunty? She's a psychopath,

02:10as you were saying.

02:12Yes, she is undoubtedly psychopathic. She's outrageous, she's wicked, she's very naughty,

02:19she cheats, she lies, and she's doing her best, probably, to bump off her niece.

02:25So what does it say about you that you are so obviously enjoying playing this part?

02:30Oh, because there's nothing better than being wicked, isn't there, for children? And I think

02:34children love it when someone is that naughty and that outrageous. They love it. But because

02:39it's David Walliams, she's also hilarious. She's very, very funny. So it's a bit like

02:43Chekhov, really. I mean, the wonderful thing about Chekhov was, you know, you cry and you

02:46laugh at the same time. And in this version, with Awful Aunty, you get to be the thrills

02:55of Aunty, and at the same time, you find her very funny. So that's the trick that David

03:00has pulled off so brilliantly, and it's just a gift for an actor to play it.

03:03Fantastic. Are you eyeing up a fifth, David Walliams?

03:07Yes, we're always talking to David about what we might do next, and he's been such

03:12a brilliant support to us. He's there at rehearsals. He's there helping with the draft. He comes

03:16to the first night. He's always giving helpful notes and suggestions. He's been a fantastic

03:21partner to work with.

03:22But this is not the end of the journey, then?

03:24No, no. We're looking ahead. We may bring Gangster Granny back, which is the show that

03:30has been maybe the most successful we've had with David. But yes, all sorts of possibilities.

03:36Fantastic. Neil, lovely to speak to you, and enjoy the rest of the tour.

03:40Thank you very much.

03:42Thanks a lot, then. Bye-bye.

03:43Bye.

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