What The Ladybird Heard @ the Playhouse
A marvellous matinee
The all singing, all dancing menagerie of Julia Donaldson’s famous farmyard was well and truly brought to life for all the ladybird fans yesterday at the Playhouse. The set and props were of an exceptionally high standard, as was the vocal talent and musical accompaniment.
Audience participation was an essential from the get go and all of the kids were fully engrossed and involved, especially when they had to sing a song to welcome the ladybird on stage. She was depicted as a bright light projection that appeared here there and everywhere which added a really sweet “panto-esque” element to the performance as the kids pointed her out to the cast.The other characters from the story were cleverly created by turning random inanimate objects that were dotted around the farmyard into animals. This was executed during a seamless song and dance. A watering can became a goose, a pink wheel barrow transformed into the hog while a bicycle and an upturned trough magically morphed into a horse before our eyes. The cast added ears, manes and tails and voilà- fully fledged farm yard action!
The thieves who were the ‘baddies’ of the tale were played with excellent comedic finesse. As their evil plan to steal the fine prize cow began to unravel their movements were accompanied by perfectly timed sound effects orchestrated by the other cast members. The moment they landed head first in the duck pond had everyone giggling; the fish in their mouths made it for me!
A marvellous matinee performance thoroughly appreciated by all!
10/10
