The Witches was published in 1983, almost 20 years after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and is a darker, slighter work. Roald Dahl, asked towards the end of his life to share his genius in eight tips on how to write children’s books, put at the top of his slightly flip list: Just add chocolate. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the chocolate is magnificent, gorgeous, an edible landscape. In The Witches, the chocolate, like almost everything else in the story, is poisoned. Lyndsey Turner’s no-expense-spared, no-talent-skipped evil jamboree of a production, with animated book by Lucy Kirkwood and catchy music by Dave Malloy, is unafraid of the dark. I am not sure what the minimum audience age for the show is but I found it terrifying, though for those happy to wallow in the black molasses of fantastical cruelty, these will be witching hours to savour.
