Anton Dahl-Sokalski, 14, brings imagination to lead role in MTYP's James and the Giant Peach

At 14 years old, Anton Dahl-Sokalski speaks with excitement, imagination and a hint of magic in his voice — a few of the ingredients necessary for playing the lead role in the Manitoba Theatre for Young People's adaptation of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach.

"The story is about a young, orphaned boy named James and his parents were killed in a horrible accident where a rhino escaped from the London zoo," Dahl-Sokalski, who has no relation to Roald Dahl, told CBC.

"His only possessions are a scarf from his mother and his dad's glasses so; he keeps them under his pillow and they're the most important things in the whole world to him."

That's before Dahl-Sokalski as James crawls into a giant peach, where "huge bugs" become his family.

In real life, a number of members of his family spend time on stage, most notably his mother, Winnipeg's celebrated opera star, Tracy Dahl. 

"She teaches in our house so I've listened to music all my life. I've been going to performances since I was in her belly," Dahl-Sokalski said.

"It's totally influenced what I want to do with my life, which is performing. I'm sure with a different family it might not have been the same."

Dahl-Sokalski was interested in theatre from a young age, appearing on stage for the first time in Grade 2, although he says he considers the first time he performed to have taken place when he was a Grade 4 student.

"When I was the second spirit in The Magic Flute," he said.

"It was a great feeling … being on stage. It was so much fun working with the other kids and everyone in that cast … it's a rush and you just improve every performance."

But the show he is in now — at least in the context of set and costumes — is his favourite.

"There is a 3D giant peach that we can do some many things on," Dahl-Sokalski said.

"The costumes are so realistic and they relate to the puppets that we use early in the show. The puppets, they transform and they look so real."

But such an extensive, detailed and imaginative set does not come without it's challenges.

"When you first get on a nine foot tall peach it's like, 'Oh, better keep my ground here,' but once you get used to it … it's great," he said.

While Dahl-Sokalski loves performing, he says he is committed to experiencing life as a regular teenager, too.

"If there's an opportunity, like a school trip, if I really think the show is something that I really want to do and need to do, I'll do it but if it's something that I think, 'I want to do this school trip, I want to be a teenager, I'll just do that," he said.

"I have no regrets in any performances I've ever done. I've never thought, 'Oh, I wish I hadn't done this because I miss out on this as being a teenager. I don't think that has happened and I don't think it will."

The Manitoba Theatre for Young People's production of James and the Giant Peach opened on Dec. 3 and runs until Dec. 27.