Review: Giant Dramatizes Roald Dahl’s Antisemitism Controversy

The incendiary Olivier Award–winning play Giant, which premiered in London last year, comes to Broadway this spring with a regrettably timely message. The titular giant is Roald Dahl, the cantankerous, 6′ 6”, much-loved children’s author.

The drama takes place during a 1983 summer luncheon and afternoon hosted by Dahl (John Lithgow) and his soon-to-be second wife, Felicity Crosland (Rachael Stirling). The guests are his British publisher (Elliott Levey) and his American publisher’s sales representative (Aya Cash), both of whom are Jewish.

Worried about sales of Dahl’s new book, The Witches, the publishers want the irascible author to craft an apology for an article in which his criticisms of Israel scandalously veered into antisemitism. Though playwright Mark Rosenblatt completed Giant before Hamas’ attack on Israel, the play’s concerns resonate at a time when criticism of Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war similarly commingles often with a hatred of Jews.

While the play deals effectively with these big issues, it is not in the least didactic. It dramatically presents characters subtly negotiating the entanglements of identity and the perils of cancel culture. The cast is superb, and Lithgow’s portrayal of Dahl’s simultaneous tenderness and monstrousness is perfection.