Room on the Broom @ Sheffield Lyceum Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Louise Clark

Myself and my four year old daughter attended the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield yesterday to watch Room on the Broom live on stage. Room on the Broom the show is based on the best-selling picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

On entering, the theatre it was light and welcoming with lovely features as expected from any good theatre house.

On arrival at the theatre we were greeted by a lovely lady who showed us straight to our seats as we had arrived just as the show was starting.

We sat down quietly whilst the show was in action. The seats were spacious and comfortable which was a nice change from other theatres I’ve visited.

The cast were all dressed appropriately and the background was perfectly fitting for each scene.

Scene changes were done very smoothly and quickly so the audience didn’t really notice that the scene change was taking place which is always a bonus and helps the children’s imagination to run wild. There were a few times the cast engaged with the audience which is always great to see and hear.

Amy Harris who played the Witch looked the part in costume, just like the book so children could relate to her. Amy portrayed her character really well and had all the children amazed at her magical ability to fly the broom.

The children loved shouting the spells and really thought they were the ones who had helped to get the broom flying, it was lovely to hear them so excited.

The back drop came down and the lights dimmed at the perfect time making it seem so real; the children loved it and were amazed.

Dan Armstrong was controlling both the dog and frog puppets and was really good, even though I was an adult and I know he’s controlling them but the children seemed to have no clue how the frog or the dog had come to life but enjoyed both characters. Everybody found the frog hilarious with his one liners and moves.

The cat who was played by Nadia Shash played her role really well, the children seemed to love her even more when she saved the witch and become a swamp monster.

One of the last scenes was the dragon played by Jo Lindley. When the dragon came on you could hear the children, they were not sure whether to be scared or boo, and at one point a child did boo which got everyone involved. Then he come off stage and engaged with the children at the front and they loved this.

My 4 year old really enjoyed this show and has asked to go and watch this again, she is a very big fan of the book. Anybody wanting to take their children I would advise they read the book first just because the dragon could be scary to younger ones, but he really plays a happy villain and all theatre shows need one of those.

Overall was a lovely afternoon for myself and my daughter.

Rating: 4/5 My rating is because they missed lots of opportunities to keep the younger audience engaged.
www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk Thu 23 – Sat 25 Jan

Ticket Prices start from £16 with under 16s priced at £13.50