The Tiger Who Came To Tea theatre review: Young children will be mesmerised from start to finish.
Tiger Who Came To Tea theatre review
This is a brilliantly engaging adaptation of the firm family favorite book ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’ written by Judith Kerr (author of the Mog series of books).
The scenery and music is delightful at transporting the audience back to the realm of storyland as children enter with exclaims of – ‘it’s the kitchen’. The stage is dressed as if it has been directly lifted from the pages of the book and is immediately recognisable to children and adults who are familiar with the story. The sense of expectation from the audience is high. Will the children like it? Will it be as engaging as the book? Will it disappoint parents or children? This show does not fail to deliver and exceeds all expectations.
The play tells of a normal day for Sophie brilliantly played by Abbie Norman; her Mummy – engagingly depicted by Jenanne Redman and Daddy. This Daddy (Benjamin Wells) was no exception and just like all Daddies jumping between the many roles they play in life, depicting the milkman, postman and of course the raison d’etre, the Tiger.
Tiger Who Came To Tea theatre review
The Tiger was enormous and there were a few gasps and giggles of delight and cries of ‘It’s THE Tiger!’ as a paw appeared round the door, but then disappeared before slowly reappearing. There were cries of it’s behind you, as Sophie and her Mummy were wondering who had knocked at the door? This Tiger was a very unthreatening vision of orange and black and as one child commented ‘He’s very rude’ as the Tiger noisily ate and drank his way through the contents of the kitchen.
There were many clever technical tricks to make the food disappear from plates, drinks magically vanish from bottles, jugs and glasses much to the audiences delight.
The play is short enough (50 minutes) for young children to be held mesmerised from start to finish. There are lots of songs with actions for them to be involved with and captivate their attention as they were whisked away to the world where Tigers come to tea.
The Tiger Who Came To Tea is running at the Lyric Theatre in London until 10th January, 2016.
