Our First Theatre Trip; The Gruffalo

Last week we took a trip down to London to see the Julia Donaldson classic “The Gruffalo” brought to life. A last minute purchase and decision as fellow blogger Elaine over at Entertaining Elliot had to sell her tickets so we snatched her hand off and set off on our journey to the deep dark wood to visit The Gruffalo.

A mouse took a stroll through a deep, dark wood…

Well a toddler, a mummy, a grandma and a baby took the choo choo train into London. We are lucky enough to be in Derby which is only 90 minutes by train to London and I still had the magic KenziBox On the Go Travel kit to see us through our journey.

Where we played with Magic Paper.

Magic Paper

Talented hey?

Before arriving into St Pancras where our journey continued.

on went the mouse through the deep dark wood

Down to the underground. Despite living in London before we headed for the bright lights of Dubai I was a little apprehensive about this. It turns out I shouldn’t have worried for 2 reasons:

One – the Toddler loves trains and the underground was no exception

Two – people help you. Even more so when you have a massive toddler in the pram and a tiny (well ok not tiny as he is GIGANTABABY) baby strapped to your chest.

So we arrived at the theatre unscathed and amazingly on time.

Parking the pram up in the buggy park we took a bouncing excited toddler into the theatre where he immediately NEEDED a Gruffalo flag which provided a great source of entertainment for him until the Gruffalo started.

his eyes are orange, his tongue is black, he has purple prickles all over his back….

Cleverly adapted from the book to the stage and played by just 3 actors, The Gruffalo captivated my near 3 year old for the full 55 minutes.

Gruffalo

Before arriving I had wondered how they would make a story I can (and do!) read in 10 minutes into 55 minute production. Let me tell you, with audience participation from shouting at the stage, to catchy songs, to a dancing mouse all with the famous words of Julia Donaldson interwoven. And shouted out by the audience of course.

The toddler did get a little bit twitchy as he wanted The Gruffalo to come out immediately….

oh help oh no it’s a gruffalo

Squeals of delight when the Gruffalo came out from parents and children alike. Wonderfully portrayed by Owen Guerin he provided just the right mix of not being the sharpest monster around.

The chemistry between all the actors and the obvious in-jokes made for compelling viewing for the adults in the audience and the children were just mesmerized.

Then of course, the mouse, played by Ellie Bell, outsmarted The Gruffalo. Leading him back through the woods to each of the predators, cleverly costumed and played by Timothy Richey (my favourite being the air force owl…. ) before announcing

“but now my tummy is beginning to rumble, my favourite food is Gruffalo crumble”
“Gruffalo crumble” the Gruffalo said,
And quick as the wind he turned and fled

Where the Gruffalo jumps into the audience, cue my toddler waving and jumping on my knee. He didn’t know whether to be terrified or delighted so went for a mix of both.

Then it was over.

And the Toddler clapped and clapped and clapped.

Heading back across London, he fell asleep in the pram and we snuck into the wonderful Searcys to meet Baby Boys new best friend and a sneaky glass of champagne before heading on the train back home.

Sleeping

Happy but exhausted.

Best of Worst
Follow:

10 Comments

  1. July 8, 2015 / 2:18 pm

    Children’s theatre is just so impressive. We went to see Julia Donaldson’s Stick Man last year and Mrs T loved it (review here if interested http://www.wandermum.co.uk/stick-man-theatre-review/ ). It was really interesting to see how they filled it out to an hour long production. Will have to check the Gruffalo out at some point!! Are you back in Dubai now? #bestandworsr

    • Laura
      Author
      July 9, 2015 / 1:51 am

      Oh I love your review of the stick man it’s another of the toddlers (read mine!) Favourites I bet its amazing! X

  2. July 9, 2015 / 12:19 am

    Ahh I love this!! My little boy loves the Gruffalo too, it looks like it was a good day had all around judging by the picture (best thing EVER buggy sleeps!). Thanks so much for linking up with the #bestandworst and hope you can pop by next week 🙂

    Helen X

  3. Laura WOlf
    July 9, 2015 / 9:54 am

    We love this book at our house. I had never heard of it before until recently when a friend shared it with us, it has quickly become a favorite! sounds like it was an exciting day.

    • Laura
      Author
      July 10, 2015 / 11:10 am

      It was an amazing day, we had a blast. I thought it would be too much with the pair of them but it was just about manageable! Thoroughly recommend for little Gruffalo lovers

  4. July 9, 2015 / 10:13 am

    This sounds amazing and looks like your little boy had the best time #bestandworst xx

    • Laura
      Author
      July 10, 2015 / 11:12 am

      It really was incredible. I am hoping I’ll have a little theatre buddy on my hands going forward x

  5. Absolutely Prabulous
    July 10, 2015 / 3:50 am

    You are a machine. You’re meant to be on holiday lol.

    • Laura
      Author
      July 10, 2015 / 11:16 am

      Remember the UK isn’t a holiday!

  6. July 11, 2015 / 2:25 am

    This looks amazing – if only we lived further south..my kids would adore it! I love to see them wasted from amazing days out haha what a lovely adventure xx #bestandworst

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.