Giant – 02 April 2026

Many people walk through the world feeling small, not only in their personalities but also in their global impact. Renowned children’s book author Roald Dahl (John Lithgow) was no such man, and Giant explores the interaction between Dahl’s ego and his best interests. Startlingly relevant to the world we live in today, Giant explores the relationship between the existence of the country of Israel and the Jewish people. The story starts with Dahl’s fiancée Felicity Crossland (Rachael Stirling) and his publisher Tom Maschler (Elliot Levey) dealing with the aftermath of a book review Dahl published denigrating Israel for bombing Beirut, Lebanon—a book review that condemned not just the actions of the Israeli government, but also all Jewish people worldwide. Crossland and Maschler bring in an American publisher, Jessie Stone (Aya Cash) to help them smooth over the mess this might make when his latest book, The Witches, goes to print for an American audience.

The process is derailed when it comes to light that Stone is Jewish. Dahl grills her on her beliefs, and despite her attempts to remain professional, Stone loses her patience and her temper. The ensuing debate is truly riveting. Facts are brought up on both sides. The discussion is emotionally charged, but relatively civil—free of the mudslinging found in the comment sections of these discussions today. In some senses, the facts are clearer in this play set in 1983. The world was free of the chaos of the Internet, where anybody can post as if they are an authority, while information in the 1980s came from journals, newspapers, and books, which were more heavily vetted. Yet despite the clarity of facts, the characters experience moral ambiguity. Fascinatingly, meeting a Jewish individual and having an open dialogue in person ends very similarly to those conversations today—both parties become more polarized and more hostile, as strong rhetoric offends and enrages rather than convinces or persuades.

There are two parts of the show that the playbill indicates are Dahl’s words verbatim—the initial article, boldly read by Stone at the end of act one, and the telephone call Dahl makes to a reporter towards the end. These are the two most heinous, offensive parts of the show and they give pitch perfect clarity to what Dahl believed—in the phone call, he proudly declares himself an antisemite and states that he used to believe there were some good Jewish people and that some Jews could be separated form Israelis, but that he no longer believes there is anything good in the entire race. It’s shocking to hear these words in a theater, and it’s shocking hearing these words as the perspective of someone who wrote children’s books that we’ve all seen across many art genres—not just the books, but also movies and musicals. Most shocking of all is the realization that while these statements required damage control in the 1980’s, they are spoken and printed and posted today with rampant, reckless abandon and nobody bats an eye.

I hope that young people will see this show and notice how these views were treated in a time of significantly higher moral clarity. I fear that young people will see this show and choose instead to venerate Roald Dahl.

I did not attend this performance on a press pass.