Theatre Production: What The Ladybird Heard
Theatre: Birmingham Hippodrome @brumhippodrome
Price: £14 per ticket
Link for tour dates and times for the rest of 2018
We were invited to pop along and watch Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks wonderful story ‘What The Ladybird Heard’ today at Birminghams beautiful Hippodrome. Theatre. It has been adapted for the stage by Kenny Wax Family Entertainment Ltd (the people who produced The Gruffalo for theatre) and we were hoping for very good things this morning. I’m unsure who was more excited, me or Jemima. We got dressed into our matching outfits (unsure how long Jemima will want to continue this for) and jumped into the car. We were that excited we arrived at the theatre a little earlier than we should have. Ha! So we sat in the main entrance area by the box office and had a bit of a rest.
At 10:20am we went and took our seats in the stalls section, row F and sat down. Jemima had a booster seat (collected from the back of the auditorium by the main doors).
Jemima was very exited and eager for the show to start. She took selfies of us to pass the very few minutes we had to wait, until the auditorium seemed busy and full.
By 10:29 the theatre had really filled up and at 10:33 the show started.
The play was great. It wasn’t one of my favourite plays (I always promise to be honest) but it was still great and very cleverly done. I often wonder how a book that takes less than ten minutes to read is converted into a play that lasts just under an hour. But they managed it and it worked well.
Have you read the book? If not, the story is about a farmer who has a prized cow. Two robbers hear about it and decide they’re going to steal it. A very quiet ladybird hatches a plan with all of the other farmyard animals and they manage to stop the robbers from taking the cow.
A play full of songs, audience participation and real imagination.
Jemima loved how the characters made animals out of random items. A goose made out of a watering can, a puppy out of a broom and a horse made from a bath on top of a bicycle with some rope. Definitely a show full of imagination. Perfect for children and adults alike.
The cast were fantastic, keeping the audience entertained and sat still until the end when they encouraged children (and adults) to sing and dance with them. My favourite, much like everyone’s was the actor Matt Jopling who played Lanky Len. He had us laughing a number of times.
Emma Carroll was fantastic on the musical instruments and Edward Way and Rosamund Hine were great farmers.
After the performance we had chance to sit and make a ladybird in The Hippodrome Foyer. Jemima really enjoyed this part. Especially as she got so excited when seeing the ladybird in the play. Shouting “there” when she could see it.
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Disclaimer: I was gifted two tickets to view this show, in return for an honest review.
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