James and The Giant Peach at Northern Stage

If you want an alternative to the standard 'he's behind you' Christmas offering then James and the Giant Peach  Northern Stage should be your first port of call.

What can I say? Wow ! The show with absolutely amazing we were enthralled from start to finish with scooters and sharks and skipping and dancing and songs and giant jellyfish and bubbles and music and tap dancing!!! It was a feast of sensory delight. There are so many wonderful things about the show that it is hard to convey my excitement in words. It was fantastic and  an absolute joy to see Northern Stage using both stage 1 and Stage 2 spaces to create an enormous set with seating 'in the round'

This show is very immersive, pulling the audience into the performance and including them in activities so I would definitely try to get seats close to the front or in the side stage seating. 

There are giant peaches, like really giant peaches, ones that start of the size of a tennis ball and get bigger and bigger and bigger until you think the cast are going to bring out a hot air balloon! 

There are lovely songs a great musical score and the brilliant choreography makes you want to get up and dance, in fact Peanut did at one point jump up to do a little jig. I felt guilt telling her to sit down!   Th show is filled with fabulous acting to be honest  I could blather on all day about how amazing I thought it was.

The story follows pretty much true Roald Dahl's book and I think Roald Dahl himself would have been up on his feet and would have approved fully of the direction, story telling and clever use of stage and props. The show is directed by Mark Calvert 

Photo credits Topher Mcgrillis

Students from Newcastle University offered a lovely supporting performance  and we each loved different characters, I was fond of Mr Earth Worm and the Aunts, Peanut loved Miss Spider for her brilliant dancing and elegance and The Golden Child liked James, who offered just the right balance of making me want to cry, cheer, and  jump up to hug him but the best bit according to the golden child was the Jelly fish!

This show won't fail to impress anybody who goes to see you it, it's a real foot tapper and I would say on par with any West End musicals that I've seen. The performance is a brilliant the musical score is awesome   the story is a lovely heartwarming tale of making friends and no longer being lonely. With excellent excellent use of props stage set and lighting you should definitely go and see this as soon as possible, get booked up, get tickets close to the front if you can and you can be part of saving  the giant peach , swimming with the jellyfish and the sharks and the Octopus's!

I promise you will not regret buying tickets for this show you can book online or by calling the Box Office on 0191 2305151and you can see more images from the show here 

We were given tickets in exchange for an honest review of the show, all opinions are our own

Noises Off At Northern Stage

Last night I went to see Noises Off at northern Stage, billed as ...

Riotous, raucous, hilarious, tears-rolling down the face, can’t breathe- it’s so funny, perfectly glorious comedy bliss.

... and as one of my rare grown up theatre trips of the year I had high hopes for this Micheal Frayn  play which is a co production by Northern Stage, Nottingham Playhouse and Nuffield Southampton. The show boasts loads of awards and has been honoured with many a brilliant review and I can see why!

Back to my proper grown up evening, I have a pet peeve about content warnings at the theatre I think personally they give too much away and are sometimes a bit silly (I mean ' May contain mild peril, smoking and use of sexist language' COME ON!)  BUT you know you are in for a treat when this is the content warning at the theatre entrance 

Now I should explain for anyone who doesn't know already that I have worked in theatre for over a decade before I gave up my career to look after the babies so I'm aware of the manic organised chaos that nobody sees going on behind, under and around the stage during a live performance so this play struck a real chord with me, as well as giving me a right laugh.

Photo Credit Robert Day 

Imagine being the fly on a wall in a theatre rehearsal, imagine being a fly on the wall backstage in the same performance and  then imagine everything that could go wrong if Basil Fawlty ran a Theatre. Mix it all up and you have Noises Off, truly the funniest thing I've seen in aaaaaaages! I rarely laugh aloud at TV, Movies or Theatre it has to be a really funny piece of work to make me chortle , don't get me wrong I'm not a stony faced hater but more a quiet chuckler! 

Not so much last night, I swear I had tears rolling down my face I was laughing so hard and I'm afraid to say even snorted with laughter at points, and the beginning of the second act when you are watching the backstage antics as the 'show' is live was so perfectly choreographed and hilariously directed that it was actually thigh slappingly funny! I think at one point it was so funny I had to slap the thigh of my companion !!!!

Photo Credit Robert Day 

There are fabulous performances by Ritu Arya, Robin Bowerman, John Elkington, Becci Gemmell , Brian Lonsdale , Sophie Nomvette, Patrick Osbourne and Carla Mendonca and brilliantly directed by Blanche Mcintyre . The set is a fab design which changes from a front stage to a behind the scenes view half way through. 

 In brief summary you will be watching a play about a play! The play in the play (are you still with me) is a good old fashioned British farce there's plenty of genteel raciness and some great entrance and exit character crossovers. So you are watching the theatre company rehearse and perform a play all the while dealing with, diva's, drink problems, dodgy props, affairs, lost contact lenses and SARDINES!

Photo Credit Robert Day 

You can catch Noises Off until 28 May and tickets are priced from 314.50, the show lasts 2.5 hours with an interval and I promise you its fabulous value for money I defy anyone to be able to sit through it without several chuckles! Book your tickets here, or call the box office on 0191 2305151

Big Red Bath at Northern Stage

Today is one of those days I wish I had the courage to just say 'right were homeschooling' I've had a fab day with just Termite but I know my big kids would have loved to see this show.

Because today we went to one of my most favourite Theatres, Northern Stage (yes I'm a bit of a fan) to see. 'Big Red Bath'. A double treat for us as we also got to spend the afternoon with Sam from the very brilliant North East Family Fun (find out what she though of the show here.)

Here's what the brochure said about Big Red Bath

"It’s the end of a busy day and it is almost time for bed, and Ben and Bella are in the bath.

Splish! Splosh! Splash! Bubbles burst and bubbles rise and a frothy feast of animals jump right in to join in the fun. Come with us on a bubbly, barmy bath time adventure around the world and home again celebrating all things bath time.

Adapted from Julia Jarman’s popular children’s picture book, this quirky, vibrant and humorous tale for 2-5 year olds features music by We Were Evergreen, an alternative indie-electro-pop trio who bring a blend of folk melodies, electro beats and vocal harmonies.

Big Red Bath is an exciting collaboration between Full House Theatre and Half Moon that will appeal to families as it blends music, song and humorous character based performances in a unique new take on this well-loved book."

It sounded irresistible, especially as our Tetmite loves Bath time so we packed our snacks put on our best frock (termite not me, I'm firmly in my mummy uniform) and trundled off.

Sitting in the auditorium waiting for the show to start is always one of my favourite times, the children are so excited and eager and there's such a lovely buzz about Northern Stage.

The set was quite compact but brightly coloured and pleasant to look at. Then the lights went down (like really really dark) and suddenly the fun began!

Do you have any idea what goes on when Mum and Dad aren't in the bathroom? Ben and Bella's bath time is gate crashed in a sploshtastic fashion by a dog, a lion, a duck, a turtle, a hippo, a giraffe and a penguin!

The animals are created using either the bath time props, think sponges toilet seats etc, or by the actors in costumes which if you look carefull have some ingenious inclusion of bathroom essentials. Lions mane is a bunch of flannels, his ears are hair donuts, soap on a rope for a medallion and a bath lilly to finish off his tail!

The soundtrack is catchy (I'd actually love to get my hands on a copy) and had the audience jigging along, and not just the children! With a running time of 40 minutes it's pitchedperfectly for little people and the audience was kept engaged throughout. Our little people today were 3 and 1.5 and each seemed to enjoy it as much as the other. My absolute favourite was the Lion but Termite seemed to love watching the bath fly off into space and be showered with bubbles. We even managed a sneaky splash in the bath too. 

This is a perfect show to bring your little people to, just the right mix of music, dance, storytelling and entertainment. You should definitely give it a shot if your kids are 6 or under. 

When I got home and told the big kids that I'd been to see the Big Red Bath, they both excitedly told me that they know the story and then named all the animals! That's when I knew we should have played hooky and all gone together!

Big Red Bath runs until Saturday and if you are quick you may still get tickets (priced at £8.50 and £6.50 ) on the website or by calling box office on 0191 2305151 and if you want a sneaky peak check out this video.

Big Red Bath from Half Moon Theatre on Vimeo.

 

 

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