Having earned a reputation as one of the world's best-loved children's stories, The Gruffalo has got another lease of life as a hugely successful touring production that has performed around the globe from Taiwan to Poland.
The stage version of The Gruffalo opened in 2001 and since then has played to an estimated 750,000 theatre-goers – most recently at Sheffield's Lyceum for a three-date stopover.
But such a glittering pedigree cuts little ice with your average thr
ee-year-old who, when asked for his verdict, had just one burning question: "Why has the man taken his shorts off?"
Adapting Julia Donaldson's rhythmic text about a mouse who outwits a fox, an owl, a snake and ultimately the book's namesake on a journey through the forest into 50 minutes of theatre guaranteed to entertain young children and adults alike is no mean feat.
But the Tall Stories theatre company which tours schools as well as community groups and theatres clearly knows its stuff. Donaldson's trademark writing style is interspersed with songs and comedy as the trio of James Gitsham, Paul Lancaster and Louise Newberry narrate the story and bring the characters to life. Lancaster's flawless comic timing produced moments of real laugh-out-loud humour with a hilariously camp rendition of the snake providing one of the highlights – well, at least mum thought so.
Three-year-old Barney liked the dressing up and thought it was very noisy but insisted he hadn't been scared of the Gruffalo. Well, how can you be when you've spotted that one of the narrators has just swapped his shorts for the Gruffalo's costume?
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