Saw this production on Sunday and was very disappointed. The book is magical and loved by children. They enjoy the rhythm and rhyme of the language and that they know the repetitions. It should be a fairly simple job to recreate this on stage and yet this production lacked so much. It had a great set which was hardly used, was full of rock-type songs and the script was littered with deconstruction moments which went completely over the head of the 3 and 4 year olds that were watching in the auditorium. I suspect these were in there to appeal to the 7 or 8 year olds who might come with the school but it was in the holidays and in actual fact the show was so ‘mid tour’ that the throw away lines were lost in the malaise of the on stage ‘business’. If the songs had rhymed and the script had rhymed, even if it developed the story, it would have kept more of the essence of the book but the ’snake’ commenting about his silly moustache and one of the actors telling the other that he was just the supporting artiste just didn’t work.
There were moments which I liked; the creation of the Gruffalo with the 3 actors before one became him was lovely (they were using the books words at this point and the children in the audience came to life and joined in) and the mouse was physically interesting to watch but I am afraid it was all too ’shouty’ and whilst it was only an hour it felt much much longer.
It was an opportunity missed and you felt that the adaptor and director were thinking more about performing in huge theatre spaces than in doing the book and the audience justice. (No programme at venue – lots of merchandising of course- not quite sure where light sabres fit into this story?! – so I don’t know anything about the company/ production team) Not recommended by me.
