Grandma and Roald come to Showbox

The performance Grandma's Wonderfully Miserable Stories and Roald's Magic is inspired by Roald Dahl's writing and life - and the belief that imagination can change the world. 

In the play we meet a boy simply called Roald, and his grandmother – who is simply useless, Roald thinks. Roald's mother has decided that he should spend the night with his grandmother in Sarpsborg. But his grandmother smells strange and prefers to do as little as possible. She also hates having visitors.

Fearing he'll be bored to death, Roald decides to get his grandmother to tell him stories. She agrees to try, but it doesn't take long for Roald to realize that his grandmother is incredibly bad at telling stories. So when she starts another story but can't finish it – Roald takes over.

Roald Dahl from Sarpsborg

Roald Dahl is one of the world's most famous children's book authors, and is behind successes such as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, George's Magic Medicine, Mathilda, SVK - and many more. And Roald's father and grandparents were from Sarpsborg.

Harald Dahl (1863–1920) grew up in what is now Dronningens gate in the city. But at the end of the 19th century, Sarpsborg was not a city in which to pursue a career, and together with his brother, Harald left the country to establish himself as a ship merchant.  

It was in Cardiff, Wales, that his son Roald Dahl was born in 1916. He is said to have spoken Norwegian well and had a close relationship with Norway throughout his upbringing, not least through many summer holidays with his grandparents - who helped to provide inspiration for his unique universe and characters. The book about Store Vennlige Kjempe (SVK), for example, is said to have been inspired by Roald's grandfather, Olaus Trulsen Dahl, who was two meters tall and a butcher. 

This performance, however, is inspired by Roald Dahl and freely fantasizes about how a boy with a good imagination might have experienced holidays with his grandmother. Grandma's Fantastically Miserable Stories and Roald's Magic is produced by Østfold Teater in collaboration with De Heldige