When inappropriate gifts begin to appear under pillows, the faith of a town’s children in the normally reliable tooth fairy begins to wobble. Added to that is the odd behaviour of the new dentist, Miss Root (Emily Harrigan), whose favourite sweet could well be gummy bears. Maternal orphan Alfie (Sam Varley) has a bad case of dentophobia, but teams up with schoolmate Gabz (Georgia Grant-Anderson) and together they drill into the problem.The first half (just 40 minutes) sets up the characters and demonstrates the versatile set, but only a localised gag about an Irish brand of crisps and a puppet cat can get much of a reaction out of the subdued audience. After the interval, things liven up with the introduction of Raj (Zain Abrahams) the eccentric newsagent, some fart sounds and toilet humour, and a horror sequence that floods the theatre with peril. Throw in some jump scares, and there are kids screaming and turning to face into the back of their seats. A well-constructed second half demonstration of love finally delivers a moment with an emotional edge, right up to a moment of questionable sacrifice.Neal Foster’s adaptation and direction of David Walliams’ novel excels when it frightens its audience. Harrigan makes a great impression as the big-voiced villain. But when she’s not on stage terrorising the milk teeth of the town’s youngsters, the show is at its strongest during the dialogue rather than the songs that are performed over canned backing tracks. Vehicles add moments of levity, with the best use of a theatrical moped since The Commitments, and on opening night in Belfast, Miss Root’s seamless ad libbing to cover a misbehaving prop. Misha Malcolm brings her scenes to life as Winnie the social worker who is concerned about the pressure on 12-year-old Alfie who is caring for his Dad (James Mitchell) alongside attending school.A couple of lines sound like deeply embedded double entendres: the absence of other pantomime elements left me feeling troubled rather than tickled. (Note to the cast: we don’t have any Aldi outlets in Northern Ireland so that reference won’t compute with the younger theatregoers. Use Lidl instead.) The show finishes in time to extract yourself from the stalls and step out into Great Victoria Street to hear the bells of Assembly Buildings play their nine o’clock hymn tune.

Demon Dentist has set up its mobile clinic in the Grand Opera House and is pulling teeth and frightening children until Saturday 29 July. Fans of David Walliams will wallow in the recreation of his children’s novel. However, this first timer is not tempted to rush back to engage with world of Walliams’ literature and theatre. 

Photo credit: Mark Douet

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