We saw the Gruffalo Live a couple of years ago and the kids adored it so we were looking forward to seeing what they had to offer this time.
The Gruffalo’s child is the sequel to The Gruffalo, which sold over 13 million copies and won several prizes for children’s literature. The story follows the Gruffalo’s daughter on her adventurous pursuit in search of the “big bad mouse”, the only creature her father is truly fearful of.
We sat down ready to begin and much to the kids delight the mouse was scurrying about on stage and came into the audience before the show started.
A simple set of just a few movable trees make up the “deep dark wood”, but surprisingly it works really well. The cast of just 3 are hugely talented and had the audience in the palm of their hands whilst watching this magical, sometimes funny, sometimes scary adaptation of Julia Donaldsons’ book.
Practically all the text from the book is used as the framework for the show and this is expanded wonderfully by a collection of catchy songs and snappy dialogue that very much keeps the spirit and feel of the book.
The inquisitive Gruffalo’s Child is played brilliantly by Sophie Alice whilst Catriona Mackenzie doubles up as Narrator and The Mouse, bringing all the characters together. I have to say though that it is Duncan Maclnnes who steals the show as not just The Gruffalo, but as the bumbling old RAF wing commander-like Owl, the wheeler-dealer Fox in a Trilby and rain mac and as the rather bonkers Snake complete with a spangled silver jacket who loves to dance.
With a simple to follow story, fun songs, a guest appearance from the Stick Man and some brilliantly acting this charming, imaginative and really enjoyable story kept us all entertained for 55 minutes.
I love things like this that bring children’s much loved storybook characters to life! It sounds like you had a wonderful time.
I love it when you can go to the theatre to see a familar story brought to life.
That sounds fantastic, we love the Gruffalo’s Child (and all of Julia Donaldson’s books!) it would be so great to see it performed on stage!
My son loves the Gruffalo and even has two Gruffalo coats! He would love to watch this performance.
Wow this looks brilliant. There is nothing like seeing your favourite book brought to life in live theatre. We saw the Gruffalo many years ago when the boys were younger and loved it. I think they would still love this though! x
This looks great we took Blake to the Gruffalo experience in milton keynes last weekend which was good.
Oh we reviewed the first show and loved it. This sounds just as great. Hadn’t heard it’d been released. Liska xx
This looks so lovely, I LOVE the theatre! My children have an irrational fear of The Gruffalo after we did a Gruffalo trail at a local park and they were scarred for life when he jumped out on them at the end. Infact we no longer speak about The Gruffalo…at all!!
That looks lovely. My five year old would enjoy that show too, especially since did love Julia Donaldson’s books 🙂
This sounds great. We love anything by Julia Donaldson so will check this out.
We saw it at Warwick over christmas and it really was lovely. Similarly we’d already seen The Gruffalo – they’re such a good way to get kids into theatre.
I love these small theatre outfits that bring kids books to life. We’ve seen similar productions of Emily Brown & The Thing and Not Now Bernard. Brilliant!
This must have been amazing – my two used to love anything like this that brought their favourite books to life.
I love the Gruffalo, and on the occasions I’ve taken children to the theatre I’ve really enjoyed watching their reactions.
It sounds a great family time out.
It sounds like a fun hour, well almost hour of entertainment for the kids x
Going to have to see if this is touring near us. I took Monkey to London to see The Gruffalo Live last year and he loved every minute of it. This, he would adore.
This sounds like such a fun thing for the little ones. We love the Julia Donaldson books and I can imagine seeing them come to life onstage is very exciting 🙂
That sounds awesome, Bugs is obsessed with the Gruffly so he would love this x
That sounds amazing! I am sure the little ones absolutely loved it 🙂
I know that my O would love this. We saw Stick Man in Edinburgh before Christmas and it was amazing. Glad to hear you enjoyed The Gruffalo’s Child! X
This sounds like so much fun! Toby has a Julia Donaldson collection but isn’t quite into it yet, I’d definitely look at taking him to something like this when he’s a bit older xx