Going to a Pantomime is a marvellously British tradition. It’s a theatre show which incorporate dances, buffoonery, slapstick, in-jokes, audience participation, a dash on innuendo and all delivered in a very eccentric way.
Well.. this year, we decided that we needed to do something a bit different than going to the typical pantomime. Instead we packed our day bag and headed down to London to see an adaption of Julia Donaldson’s wonderful book The Stick Man. Our girls absolutely adore any book written by Julia. In fact when it comes to bedtime, Ula & I are both able to to recite most of her books, without even needing to read a page.
So we went with very high expectation and we were not disappointed!
Set in Leicester Square theatre right in the heart of the West End. Unlike a typically London stage, it only sat around about 400, so it felt a great little theatre with an intimate feel. But, one word of advice make sure you grab a booster seat.
Like a good-old fashion pantomime, there was quite a bit of audience participation and there were plenty of jokes which made us chuckle as well. But unlike a pantomime it wasn’t ladened with cheesy jokes, but more a charming adaptation of the book.
A particular highlight was during the beach scene, when the cast really interacted with audience. Beach balls & inflatable rings were flying around and they had a very catchy tune.For those of you who don’t know they story line, towards the end of the show there was an appearance by Father-Christmas – which obviously left us feeling very festive.
For anyone looking to keep their littles one entertained, then we highly recommend it. It was an hour which we thoroughly enjoyed and will be a highlight of our Christmas preparations.
After the show we went to explore London which is fully decked out with Christmas decorations.. oh we also had to fuel ourselves up some pizzas mmmmm!