What’s On previews George’s Marvellous Medicine live in Abu Dhabi. The Roald Dahl book has been for a performance at Abu Dhabi Theatre.

Grandmothers with bad tempers, beware. George’s Marvellous Medicine, one of Roald Dahl’s best-loved children’s books about a young boy trying to cure his grandmother’s ghastly temper, is coming to Abu Dhabi Theatre. Clark Devlin, who plays George, gives What’s On the lowdown.

You’ve done many performances of George’s Marvellous Medicine. How do you keep it fresh for the audience every night? I think I’ve clocked up around 600 performances now and it never gets easier. It’s best to be in the moment and imagine you are doing it for the very first time. Different audiences give you different reactions too, so that helps to keep you on your toes.

Do you ever improvise to keep you and your castmates on their toes? You can’t really improvise with the script but sometimes I’m a bit cheeky and put up a different picture on set or change the name of a chicken to see if anyone notices.

Do you get to make a mess on stage with the medicine? Yes, it’s so much fun. The messier it is, the better. A lot of the ingredients we use to make the medicines are water with different food colourings. We also add shaving foam and talcum powder.

Some of the reviews of the show mention words like ‘riot’, ‘anarchy’ and ‘naughty’. Sounds like a lot of fun. It really is a fun show to do. The naughtier you are the better, as that’s what all kids would love to do.

Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell came to see a recent show. What did she say to you afterwards? She loved the show. Bluebell, her daughter, did too. Geri was always my favourite Spice Girl…

Did you read many Roald Dahl books as a kid? I loved The Twits and The Witches. I think children love our tale so much because it’s naughty and they see themselves in George’s shoes.

It looks like you’ve worked a lot since drama school. What do your old classmates say about your success? Everyone has been very positive. It’s such a great show to be part of and has been running successfully for many, many years now. Lots of my friends have been to see it and said it was a real crowd-pleaser, not just for children but adults, too.

Last question: give us your favourite line from the show. “Cow pills, just the job for a grumpy old cow.”

May 22
Abu Dhabi Theatre, Ras Al Akhdar, Abu Dhabi, 4pm, Dhs135 to Dhs185. Tel: (02) 6818821. Taxi: Abu Dhabi Theatre, Breakwater, near Marina Mall. artforall.ae