It’s hard to believe that one of the greatest authors I grew up reading could’ve been one to show such disdain towards any religious group. Especially when that author wrote for all children and had a self-claimed love for his youthful audience. Well, the truth is this part of the great Roald Dahl has been well-documented in articles and interviews of the 20th century, and now it’s on full display in Mark Rosenblatt’s powder keg of a play, “Giant.”
Of course, this is all a fictionalized account of what likely happened when the need for damage control came into play. But the conflict that sets the scene for what’s at stake here is true. The harsh words of Dahl that are read off of papers and recited to interviewers is verbatim. You sit there in the Music Box for 2.5 filled with a sense of nervousness, uncomfortableness, suspense, and the picture of a beloved figure turned upside down and leaving you to question is it possible to separate the artist from the art or not. And that’s exactly what Rosenblatt wants you to feel when taking in this highly needed conversation only his masterpiece of a play can get rolling.
This isn’t just a play on one man’s crude beliefs, nor is it simply a play against antisemitism. It’s a play about something every writer is adept in: language. The power of language that is. How it can build up. How it can tear down. How it can creep into the very recesses of our souls and bring feelings we may have never felt or felt for a flicker to the surface. It leaves you breathless what Rosenblatt sparks up, and his use of language in all these characters is sublime. The dichotomy is crackling in the individual character voices he’s conjured up, and it fuels the conflict fire in such a way that by the time you think the fire will eventually calm in resolution, it keeps on flaring with an even stronger willpower. But you have to listen closely to what’s being said to get the full effect of this central theme.
Director Nicholas Hytner certainly drives home all this play’s themes. He’s exacting in what he wants making a cathartic impact, he knows how to keep things from being all rise and paints an eloquent picture of hills and valleys that is very much needed to keep you engaged in this pressure cooker of a play, and he is able to keep characters on both sides of the main conflict this play presents well balanced in a way that allows you to understand where each character’s perspective on the matter comes from (Rosenblatt also deserves credit for that as well). Hytner’s a theatrical genius when it comes to his work on this one, and he certainly gave extraordinary life to Rosneblatt’s first playwrighting outing.
And with someone as theatrically giant as John Lithgow leading his piece, how can it get any better than that? His Dahl is a kaleidoscope of passion and bigotry that honestly leaves you quite frightened, yet gives you the want to explore what’s established such horrid beliefs in this self-proclaimed BFG. But I think what Lithgow does best is truly capture a specific description Rosenblatt wrote for another character (which I know I’m gonna misquote) that certainly defines the Dahl behind closed doors: a child in giant’s clothes. His Dahl may have the figure of a giant, but he certainly has the temper and stubbornness of a child, and all that seems to lead to is an example of monstrousness. It’s a career-defining performance for Lithgow; no one could do it better than him.
The rest of this cast also brings their a-game to this conversation-filled table, but if I had to pick out anyone else that truly stood out amongst them all, it would have to be Aya Cash as the one who gets the whole ball of conflict rolling. She stands strong from beginning to end, and when she comes out fighting, she is a warrior of words penetrating the thickest of skulls. She’s not giant, but she doesn’t need to be to prove her power only she can bring to this vital presence this play might be nothing without.
“Giant” is going to leave everybody walking away from it with tons of questions and conversations and uncomfortable feelings that this world needs to sit with and discuss at length. This world certainly seems to be going backwards in a lot of departments, and hopefully this play can prevent at least a few of these departments from falling back too far and push them in a direction that brings major progression and more peace and unity than violence and division. I strongly urge you to buy tickets and breathe in the talks only this crucial magnum opus can bring about.
