TWISTED: THE UNTOLD STORY OF A ROYAL VIZIER, BJW Productions - Edinburgh Fringe (Online)

Everyone is familiar with the story of Aladdin.  The street rat who falls in love with the Princess and after finding and rubbing the lamp, he is granted three wishes, with the Genie’s help defeats Jafar’s evil plans to take over the kingdom, gets the girl and they all live happily ever after.

What if there was another side to the story?  What if Jafar was just a misunderstood selfless royal advisor who wanted to make things right? What if Aladdin wasn’t the nice guy down on his luck after all?

Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier is just that, a twisted tale on the traditional tale of Aladdin.  

Directed by Aiden Carson, with a book by Matt Lang, Nick Lang and Eric Kahn Gale, this production is highly satirical of the squeaky-clean family friendly, Disney-style story but with foul language throughout, this is definitely one for the adults.

Both the script and lyrics by Kaley McMahon (with music by A J Holmes) are laugh out loud funny.  In one song, we are jovially told how the villagers would like to kill Jafar.

There are clever references to other Disney characters scattered throughout and even a few guest appearances.

Eoin Callaghan plays Jafar, surprisingly making us warm to the character and Molly Hewitt-Richards as The Princess has outstanding vocals worthy of any West End stage.

This production is easy to watch and guaranteed to make you smile. Definitely one to catch on the Edinburgh circuit this year.

**** Four Stars

Reviewed by: Rachel Louise Martin

Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier is available at Fringe Online.