Theatre companies should take on much-loved children’s books with some trepidation; there were grandparents in the audience at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre who must have read The Enormous Crocodile themselves as children. Roald Dahl’s story, aimed at younger children than most of his work, was published in 1978 and is as known for the Quentin Blake illustrations as it is for the story itself.

The crocodile is hungry and he likes to eat children, even though some of the other crocodiles tell him they’re too chewy, and anyway, he would have to leave the river to find any. Despite their warning, he sets out to find some tasty children and on the way, meets a variety of other creatures, many of whom help to outwit him before eventually he is sent into space and turned into a sausage.

Very sensibly, Toby Olié’s puppets are clearly inspired by the original illustrations, as well as being great creations in their own right. It is a difficult balance to create puppets that relate to 2D drawings and 3D creatures, but the result is extremely impressive. The enormous crocodile himself moves in a remarkably crocodile-like fashion and can open his mouth impressively wide. The Roly-Poly Bird, Trunky, Humpy-Rumpy and Muggle-Wump all appear to a delighted welcome from the younger audience members, and most of the crocodile’s disguises and adventures are cleverly staged.

Strangely, however, the crocodile opens his mouth to eat or laugh, but keeps it firmly shut when singing. This seems to jar a little, although the decision not to lip sync the songs may be related to the size and weight of the head. Some of the other characters don’t have opening mouths and it therefore seems entirely believable when they sing, but it seems odd when the crocodile sings somehow.

The main addition to the story comes from Suhayla El-Bushra and Ahmed Addullahi Gallab, whose book, lyrics and music turn this simple tale into an inventive, jaunty and entertaining piece of musical theatre. There’s even a sing-along for the audience and the chance to throw giant peanuts at the crocodile during a performance that owes quite a debt to pantomime. The set and highly inventive costumes are by Fly Davis, whose designs for The Ocean at the End of the Lane were so remarkable, and she works wonders here too. We see the crocodile pretend to be a seesaw, we see him disguise himself as a palm tree and he even see him catapulted into space and around the planets.

The hardworking cast engage with the audience immediately. Elise Zavou scores a double as a cheeky monkey and a teacher, with three other cast members appearing as her humanette children, a nice use of this almost forgotten type of puppetry. Audrey Brisson is a perky bird, and Joanna Adaran is an imposing elephant. Nuwan Hugh Perera is a sympathetic hippo but gets even more reaction as schoolboy Hamza. In the title role, Malinda Parris not only creates a sympathetic villain, but also leads much of the singing; this has to be the best sung crocodile ever seen on the London stage.

Emily Lim’s production delivers all the expected storyline and adds to that a lively and appropriate score, creating a very successful 55-minute version of this classic picture book, which was rapturously received: even in the continuous rain that fell on the press show audience.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Chris Abbott

The Enormous Crocodile plays at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre until 8 June, with further info here.