“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Justification Paper

“I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable

with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn't be daunting, they should be funny, exciting
and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage. ”​ Roald Dahl
was able to capture the hearts and imagination of millions of children writing in a small
hut behind his home. Reading was very important to Mr. Dahl, he kept writing until his
death. He was able to create whole new realms and dimensions with his writing that
transported kids to places unfathomable. This is undoubtedly true in his children’s
novel “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory”. Dahl had the ability to write in such a way
that his words would completely and totally immerse the reader. The stage play version
of “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” adapted by Richard George also holds up to the
same standard of whimsy and surprise that the novel. It was my challenge as a designer
to pay homage to Roald Dahl in such a way that he was directly involved in the creative
process.
I began my research by reading over the book and play version to find literary
connections between the pieces. This process began to give me inspiration for the
technical elements in the show such as how to execute the consequence for the children
in each of the scene. I also began to read other books and poems of Dahl’s including
some of his earlier works like “Over To You”, “James and The Giant Peach”, and
“Gremlins” to get an idea of his inspirations around the time he wrote “Charlie and The
Chocolate Factory”. In addition to the copious amounts of reading, I also looked into
his childhood, which was the source of influence for works including, “The Witches”
and “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” which led me to finding out that, Roald had always had a
vividly fanatical imagination. Dahl’s creativity was soon very beneficial, during World
War II he served in Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF). During his time in the RAF, Roald
heard stories of little monsters that caused malfunctions on aeroplanes, this became the
inspiration for his book “The Gremlins”. ​Dahl’s obsession with books bleeded in to his
books and poems. In his poem “Television”, Roald Dahl expresses his disdain with
television writing, ​“IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND, HE CAN NO
LONGER, UNDERSTAND, A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!” ​He believed that tv could
not replace that magic that books have children, which is why in “Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory” Mike Teavee meets the most explosive demise. In fact all of the
children’s vices Dahl had a personal distaste for. ​After the War, Roald Dahl found a
fondness for children’s writing and over the next decades he would write some of the
most popular children’s books on Earth.
He believed that you could go anywhere without even leaving your seat. ​“The
books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived
exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to
Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all
over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village. (Matilda)”
Whenever, Roald sat down to write “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” he did
extensive research for the contents of his book he was quoted saying ​“You must be a
perfectionist. That means you must never be satisfied with what you have written until
you have rewritten it again and again, making it as good as possible.”​ I implemented
this same philosophy during my creative process combing through theme after theme
and during my design process sketching and erasing and re sketching and scraping
completely and start over time after time, until i felt that my plates were the best
possible product I could produce.
After reading work after work or Dahl’s and article after article over his
childhood, career, and personal life, there was an recurring theme of surprise and
trickery throughout a vast amount of his works.​ “You can play a lot of tricks with a
glass eye because you can take it out and pop it back in again. (The Twits)”​ I
incorporated this element of surprise into my set design by choose to have my set pop
out of the pages of Roald Dahl’s books. These elements allowed for me to tinker with
the presentation of my design as well as my practical application. All of the scenes in
the Chocolate Factory correlate with another one of Dahl’s many works. I also chose to
add in other hidden elements like Frobscottle from “The BFG” and fashioned Roald
Dahl’s writing hut out of his books. ​"[Roald] Dahl has this amazing ​understanding of
what makes kids tick, so he can create worlds they believe in. He has this most
extraordinary ability to see things just as he did when he was a child." O ​ ver the course
of my entire project I always had to stop and think ​“Would a child sit here for ninety
minutes and be absolutely captivated and awestruck by this?” ​This self-check always
brought me back whenever I was overwhelmed, I also remember that in Dahl’s seven
tips for writing fiction, he quoted as ​“The number one most important quality is a vivid
imagination.”