The Twits

This article is about the Roald Dahl children's book. For other uses, see Twit (disambiguation).

The Twits is a 1980 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was first published by Jonathan Cape. The story features The Twits (Mr. and Mrs. Twit), a spiteful, lazy, unkempt couple who continuously play nasty practical jokes on each other to amuse themselves and exercise their devious wickedness on their pet monkeys.

The Twits

Second edition
Author	Roald Dahl
Illustrator	Quentin Blake
Cover artist	Quentin Blake
Language	English
Genre	Children's novel
Publisher	Jonathan Cape (United Kingdom)
Publication date	1980
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print (hardback, paperback)
Pages	87

Dahl's disgust at beards was the inspiration for Mr. Twit. As Dahl stated, he penned The Twits in an effort to "do something against beards".^[1] Dahl's biographer, fellow children's author Michael Rosen, recalls the first time the pair met, Dahl leant across to Rosen's son Joe and said of his father's beard: "It's probably got this morning's breakfast in it. And last night's dinner. And old bits of rubbish, any old stuff that he's come across. You might even find a bicycle wheel in it".^[1]

In 2003, The Twits was listed at number 81 in The Big Read, a BBC survey of the British public of the top 200 novels of all time.^[2] In 2012, the titular Twits appeared on a Royal Mail commemorative postage stamp.^[3] In 2023, the novel was ranked by BBC at no. 87 in their poll of "The 100 greatest children's books of all time".^[4] The Twits was adapted for the stage in 2007 and an animated film adaptation, directed by Phil Johnston, is scheduled for release in 2025 on Netflix.^[5][6]

Penguin Books has released the book in audiobook form twice, in 2001 read by Simon Callow and in 2023 read by Richard Ayoade.

Overview

The idea of The Twits was triggered by Dahl's desire to 'do something against beards'.^[1] The first sentence of the story is 'What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays'.

Plot

A hideous, vindictive, spiteful married couple known as the Twits live together in a brick house without windows. They continuously play nasty practical jokes on each other out of hatred for each other. They also keep a former family of pet monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps. The Twits, who are retired circus trainers, are trying to create the first upside-down monkey circus. They will always demand the monkeys stand on their heads for hours on end.

Mr. Twit uses glue called Hugtight in hopes of catching birds for Mrs. Twit to make into a bird pie. The monkeys try to warn the birds before they land on the tree, but the English-speaking birds do not understand the monkeys' African language. Once a week, the Roly-Poly bird flies to visit the monkeys, to secretly save the birds by acting as an interpreter of languages. On a Tuesday night, a group of four boys see the ladder next to this tree and they decided to walk up into it, not thinking or knowing that glue was on it. The following morning, Mr. Twit sees that the boys have scared the birds away. Out of rage, Mr. Twit charges at the boys, but they escape. Mr. Twit tries several times to catch the birds and, tired of not getting anywhere, Mr. and Mrs. Twit decide to go buy guns to kill the birds.

The Muggle-Wumps come up with an idea to use Mr. Twit's glue to attach the Twits' furniture to their ceiling, while the birds come up with an idea to smear glue on the Twits' heads. Shocked, the Twits rush into their home and see the resulting mess. Mrs. Twit freaks out, thinking they are upside down, so Mr. Twit suggests that they stand on their heads so that they are "the right way up". The Roly-Poly bird then offers to fly the Muggle-Wumps all the way back to Africa, and the Muggle-Wumps escape.

Hours later, both Mr. and Mrs. Twit are putting all their weight down on the heads and catch the "Dreaded Shrinks" with their bodies compressing "downwards". The Twits' head shrinks into their neck, their necks shrink into their bodies, their bodies shrink into their legs, and their legs shrink into their feet. Their feet shrink into nothing but two pairs of shoes and old clothes. A week later, Mr. and Mrs. Twit are then nowhere to be seen, and their absence is promptly celebrated by everyone.

Film adaptation

Main article: The Twits (film)

In February 2003, a feature film adaptation of the book entered development at Vanguard Animation with its founder John H. Williams set to produce. As part of a multi-picture deal with Walt Disney Pictures, Vanguard was set to produce a CG animated/live-action film, with John Cleese and Kirk DeMicco writing the screenplay.^[7]

In November 2004, Mark Mylod signed up to direct the feature, while Cleese was attached to star in the film.^[8][9] In October 2006, after the executive/regime changes at Disney, the project moved to Working Title and Universal.^[10][11] By January 2012, the official site of Vanguard Animation stated that Conrad Vernon, the director of Shrek 2 (2004) and Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), would direct the film.^[12]

By April 2022, an animated television series for Netflix was turned into a feature film.^[13] An animated film, directed by Phil Johnston, is scheduled for release in 2025.^[14]

Theatrical adaptations

In April 1999, a theatrical musical adaptation by Justin Pearson (general manager and the artistic director of the UK's National Symphony Orchestra) and actress Anne Collis, directed by Michael Dineen was presented at The Questors Theatre in Ealing, West London.

A second production of The Twits adapted by Enda Walsh and directed by John Tiffany was performed at London's Royal Court Theatre in 2015, running from 7 April to 31 May.^[15][16] The cast included Jason Watkins as Mr. Twit, Monica Dolan as Mrs. Twit, Glyn Pritchard as the Monkey Father and Cait Davis as the Monkey Mother.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, a theatrical reading of The Twits was performed at London's Unicorn Theatre directed by Ned Bennett and performed by Zubin Varla and Martina Laird.^[17] The performance was recorded and originally streamed in three parts over YouTube.

Relations to other Roald Dahl books

• A monkey named Muggle-Wump also appears in The Enormous Crocodile.
• A Roly-Poly Bird likewise makes an appearance in The Enormous Crocodile and is also to be found in Dirty Beasts.
• Certain things within the book, such as Mr. Twit's beard, 'Wormy Spaghetti' and bird pie, appear within Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes.^[18]
• The birds' descriptions of Muggle-Wump's sanity ("dotty", "balmy", "batty", "nutty", "screwy", "wacky") are the same as those used by the parents to describe Willy Wonka's sanity in Chapter 18, "Down the Chocolate River", of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

2023 censorship controversy

See also: Roald Dahl revision controversy

Despite Roald Dahl having instructed his publishers not to "so much as change a single comma in one of my books", in February 2023 Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Books, announced that it would be re-writing portions of many of Dahl's children's novels, changing the language to, in the publisher's words, "ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today".^[19] The decision was met with sharp criticism from groups and public figures including authors Salman Rushdie^[20][21] and Christopher Paolini,^[22] British prime minister Rishi Sunak,^[20][21] Queen Camilla,^[20][23][24] Kemi Badenoch,^[25] PEN America,^[20][21] and Brian Cox.^[25] Dahl's publishers in the United States, France, and the Netherlands declined to incorporate the changes.^[20]

In The Twits, more than a dozen changes were made, including changing "ladies and gentlemen" to "folks" and removing words like batty, nutty, screwy, ugly, and hag.^[26][27]

Original text	2023 text[27]
In her right hand she carried a walking stick. She used to tell people that this was because she had warts growing on the sole of her left foot and walking was painful. But the real reason she carried a stick was so that she could hit things with it, things like dogs and cats and small children.	In her right hand she carried a walking stick. Not because she needed help walking. But the real reason she carried a stick was so that she could hit things with it, things like dogs and cats and small children.

Continuation novel

In 2024, it was announced that Greg James and Chris Smith would co-write a continuation novel titled The Twits Next Door illustrated by Emily Jones.^[28]