Rewiring The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar for the internet age

Rehearsals for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, from l-r: director Ben Harrison, David Rankine as Henry Sugar, Rosalind Sydney as Dr Jane Cartwright and Dave Fishley as Michael PIC: Peter Dibdin

Ben Harrison wonders if he was a little too young when he first came across Roald Dahl's The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. He must have been nine, but it wasn't until 11 that the story clicked. "I re-read it when I was old enough and loved it," says the theatre director, brandishing the hardback first edition that he has treasured since then. "Dahl would have hated the term, but it's aimed at tweenagers. It's just a bit more sophisticated."

The centrepiece of a short story collection published in 1977, it is about the titular Henry Sugar who devotes three years to learning esoteric arts in India. He has read an essay about Imhrat Khan, a man who uses the power of meditation to see without using his eyes. It sounds like such a remarkable feat, Henry resolves to gain the same knowledge.

His studies with an Indian yogi teach him formidable skills. Before long, he is earning silly money in casinos where he can see through the cards and predict the fate of the roulette wheel. Money, however, can't buy him love.

"He realises the acquisition of wealth, the thing that is so important to him and that basically is his identity, just leads to suffering," says Harrison, a keen yoga practitioner himself. "It leads to not living a full life and not seeing the people around you who love you."

Given the chance to stage an adaptation, Harrison thought naturally of one playwright. Rob Drummond has not only written entertainingly for teenagers, but has often been drawn to magic. In his adult show Bullet Catch, he recreated a Victorian illusion in which a magician asks an assistant to point a loaded gun in his face, then catches the bullet in his teeth.

For family audiences, he has adapted The Broons and, in Mr Write for the National Theatre of Scotland, he improvised a play based on the life of one young audience member.

"I've always enjoyed that age group because they're so open to anything," says the playwright. "In Mr Write I got one of them up, usually about 12 years old, and they were on stage with me for the entire show. I enjoy writing for that age group because there's no wall and less of an embarrassment factor; they're open, honest and themselves."

With The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar, Drummond and Harrison aim to entertain the whole family, much like a Pixar movie does. "The adults get so much out of it as well," says Drummond. "I just have to trust the source material and trust that Roald Dahl knew what he was doing for that nebulous between-children-and-adult age group. I didn't have to do much grasping to find relatability in the story for all age groups because it's about coming of age and finding you've got power – and what you do with that power. The adults in the audience have been there not so long ago, so they can all relate to it."

For his part, Harrison was thrilled to be telling a story that involved magic, not least after the long months of lockdown when spectacle was impossible. "We're unashamedly using theatricality," says the director best known for his work with Grid Iron, Edinburgh's site-specific theatre company. "We were so starved of it for these years. There is the magic, but there is also lots of magical staging. It's a celebration of theatre."

Fergus Dunnet, who used to perform tricks alongside Drummond in their university days, is the magical consultant. "He has been absolutely essential to the delivery of the show's illusions and live effects," says Harrison.

For this adaptation, a collaboration between Helen Milne Productions, Perth Theatre and the Roald Dahl Story Company, Drummond has added an extra twist. To make it all the more theatrical, it is no longer simply about Henry Sugar's discovery of Imhrat Khan.

"As a playwright, I saw an opportunity for an interesting structure," he says. "Dahl wrote a story within a story. I thought, 'Why don't we put another layer on top of that? Let's make it about a girl who finds The Wonderful World Of Henry Sugar, which is a book about a guy who finds a book.' I love the idea of having three time zones, speaking to each other across the decades."

The juxtaposition of the three stories from three different eras reminds us what we have in common. "No matter what decade you're born in, you've got the same psychological problem," says Drummond. "That is, 'When I become powerful, when I learn to be me, do I use that power for good or evil?'"

This is the first time The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar has been adapted for the stage, perhaps surprising given how many Dahl books, from James and the Giant Peach to Matilda, have made the transition. Leading the cast is David Rankine, who takes on the title role of Henry Sugar, alongside Rosalind Sydney, in the role of surgeon Dr Jane Cartwright.

Newcomer Eve Buglass, as the 14-year-old Mary, is the 21st-century audience's entry point. Being hooked on social media, with its instant gratification, she is every bit the modern girl.

"What's valuable to Henry Sugar is money," says Drummond. "What's valuable to Imhrat Khan is fame and being on stage. I was thinking, 'What's the equivalent now?' And it's likes or subscriptions online. That's the currency. So they're all chasing roughly the same thing, just in different ways."

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is at Perth Theatre from 24 March until 2 April and touring until 17 April.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription at https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions