Today we were lucky enough to go and see The Gruffalo Live! We were given tickets to go and see the show so that we could review it. The recommended minimum age to see the show is 3 years old, but we thought that Ethan would enjoy it (and he did) even though he's only 2. Seeing live shows is such a great experience for children's Creative Development to learn appreciation of the theatre from a young age.
The show is currently on in London's Lyric Theatre, but then moves on to tour other cities in the UK. Ticket prices vary for the different theatres, but from what I see they are all quite affordable (and definitely worth it). The show runs for 55 minutes with no intermission, which seemed long enough to be worthwhile but not too long as to lose the children's attention.
There are only 3 actors in the show, one plays the mouse and the other 2 are the storytellers. One of the storytellers then changes between playing the other animals (fox, owl and snake) and the other storyteller plays the Gruffalo. The show follows the basic story from the book, but adds in extra dialogue and songs. The songs are fun and catchy and suit the story really well. The actors also get the audience involved by asking for help with roaring like the Gruffalo and saying certain lines from the book together.
The show is currently on in London's Lyric Theatre, but then moves on to tour other cities in the UK. Ticket prices vary for the different theatres, but from what I see they are all quite affordable (and definitely worth it). The show runs for 55 minutes with no intermission, which seemed long enough to be worthwhile but not too long as to lose the children's attention.
There are only 3 actors in the show, one plays the mouse and the other 2 are the storytellers. One of the storytellers then changes between playing the other animals (fox, owl and snake) and the other storyteller plays the Gruffalo. The show follows the basic story from the book, but adds in extra dialogue and songs. The songs are fun and catchy and suit the story really well. The actors also get the audience involved by asking for help with roaring like the Gruffalo and saying certain lines from the book together.
The Gruffalo Live Trailer
We arrived at the theatre and Ethan ran to the sign outside and said 'The Gruffalo!' he was so excited just to be there! We found our seats and Ethan explored our little area (he loved the binoculars in the seats). Then he was absolutely mesmerised from the moment that the lights went down in the theatre. He just stared at the characters as they performed. I had him sitting on my lap as he couldn't see very well from his own seat (some people brought booster seats, which would have been a very good idea), and he would just turn to me every few minutes and say 'Mummy...mouse!' or 'mouse, deep dark wood'. It was really sweet to see him enjoy the show so much and be so engrossed with what was happening. He really seemed to enjoy the songs as well, he was dancing and bopping around.
Overall I am really glad that we went, we all thoroughly enjoyed the show and now I know that Ethan can sit through a show of that length so we will be able to see more shows in the future. I would highly recommend The Gruffalo Live as it was a fantastic show :)
* This has been a review post, The Gruffalo Live provided us with tickets for the show so that we could write a review for them. To see more about my review process please click here. *
The Gruffalo Live is back at the Lyric Theatre, for tickets and information please take a look at their website.
