The Tiger Who Came to Tea live

The boys absolutely love the theatre, especially the Curve in Leicester so even though we have a bit less money to spend, I am happy to take them every other month or so.
Today we saw the adaptation of The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Reuben had asked to go as he saw the posters for it a couple of months ago, so he was extra excited!

It is adapted from a short children's story, first published in 1968, written and illustrated by Judith Kerr. The book is about a girl called Sophie, her mother, and an anthropomorphised tiger who interrupts their afternoon tea. With interesting consequences.

The play was lovely, the boys were rapt and are still (6 hours later) singing the songs from the show, it might be a little less engaging if you are over the age of 7 or if you mind the actors looking rather deranged, but I don't and got carried away with the atmosphere!
You can find out more about the play here or watch a trailer here

And here is the complete narrated story:

The Snail and the Whale live

We have now seen quite a few theatre adaptations of Julia Donaldson's books (the Gruffalo woman) and they have ranged from very dull to very imaginative so we don't quite know what to expect anymore. And that is good! We remain a hugely optimistic and excitable bunch of people so a trip to the theatre is always a very joyful event. Our favourite local theatre is Curve in Leicester, and that's where this performance was.

As usual, as soon as the show starts, I REALLY wish I hadn't read the book as I feel it detracts from what I am seeing. The story here was quite different from the book, it is all about the relationship between a girl and her father, he is in the navy and is often away so the show is a bittersweet remembering of a favourite story shared between the two.

The snail leads everyone to the rescue

A girl/snail with an itchy foot

The snail and the whale swim away

Daddy's voice

The boys as usual loved it, I'm looking forward to more critical discussions in the cafe afterwards but as they are only (nearly) 3 and (nearly) 5 I am content with: Mummy I loved it! And my favourite bit was when...
More details on the show here.

Our first balcony seats, Isaac's head  in the foreground

We listen to sea shanties on the violin before the show
starts