Today, me and the girls headed to one of the opening day performances of In The Night Garden Live at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. It has three performances a day from today until Sunday, with a showing at 10am, 1pm and 4pm on each day. Each performance lasting for an hour.
We arrived 45 minutes before the show and headed to get our tickets from the box office. There was no queue and we were seen by the usual very friendly staff. We got a programme full of games and stickers (£5) and headed to the merchandise stand to have a look at what was available.
The merchandise stand has various items to purchase including tshirts, cuddly toys of all sizes, jigsaw puzzles, lights, hand puppets, books and drink cups among many other items. Prices were fairly standard, my girls both chose a small Tomliboo toy each and they were £5.50 per Tomliboo. Many merchandise stands in theatres usually only accept cash, but this stand took card which was a benefit for us.
We headed over to the foyer to find a seat whilst waiting for the doors to the theatre to open.
The Rep is a great space for children and adults alike and the girls had fun checking out the football table, the retro games machine and they relaxed on the very comfy sofa style chairs spread around the foyer.
We headed into the theatre and had our bags checked before we went in. You can take your own food and drinks in, the Rep are just checking for security of the theatre and guests. The drinks and snacks stand (next to the box office) does sell fruit shoots and a variety of fizzy drinks, ice creams and snacks, but they are (in my opinion) a little pricey. Although we still got a drink and sharers bag of Rowtrees Randoms from there ourselves, so maybe not too expensive.
A woman was selling flashy lights (suitable for little ones) in the theatre for £7 each, my two were eager to have them to watch the show, so I succumbed.
We sat down on our seats and the girls got really excited about the show starting.
In The Night Garden do a 3 minute countdown to the show starting, which encouraged all of the children to get even more excited, eager for the show to commence.
The Creative Team have done a wonderful job, the stage was lovely and colourful, exactly like the show. Bright greens and blues and many of the children, including my own, sat staring at the stage with huge smiles on their faces. The music exactly like the show and Tim Vines original sound effects were in the show.
The story follows Iggle Piggle who hears a strange noise in the forest, and on his journey to find out what it is, meets up with all of his friends.
It is a lovely show for children aged 6 months to 5 years, I took Matilda (aged 6) with me and Jemima and she laughed and joined in with the show too. I have to admit I enjoyed it myself, I got to see a life size Makka Pakka which made my day.
The touring company worked well together, the Puppeteers (Paula Brett, Christopher Dobson, Glynn Williams) were great, moving around effortlessly on the floor, when in reality, I can imagine shuffling around on your knees on a stage could be quite painful. The movement of the puppets, quite lifelike and you at times forget they are being controlled by the Puppeteers behind them.
The full sized Iggle Piggle (Vinnie Monachello), Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka (Victoria Jane) were my favourites. The relationship between Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy almost made me say ‘ahh’ at times (photo underneath taken by Johan Perrson).
The Pinky Ponk performs outstandingly, I won’t spoil this part, but it had the audience all excited and lots of “wows” shouted.
Overall, a great show, well worth the ticket prices which start at £11.50 a ticket depending on which seats you choose. Although wherever you sit at The Rep, you get a good view of the stage so don’t be put off the cheaper priced seats. They work just as well as the more expensive seats.
And don’t forget to have your photo taken next to the In The Night Garden scenery in the foyer and share on social media with the tags #nightgardenlive, #repbirmingham and #smallhousebigtrips
Disclaimer : We were invited along in return for an honest review.