Peppa Pig’s Surprise at The Hawth Crawley Review
Peppa Pig’s Surprise
The Hawth, Crawley
27-28 January 2016
Reviewed by Kirstie Fruen
Not at all what I was expecting but incredibly well done!
I took my 3 youngest children to watch this production, a girl of 5 and two boys aged 4 and 3, the perfect ages for a Peppa Pig show.
I have lived locally to the theatre for many years and driven past it on many occasion, but I have never taken the roundabout exit it is situated on.
Today I did, the venue was bigger than I was expecting, but not as big as some, and looked far more attractive than I could have imagined. There were plenty of full flower beds and foliage to make it an attractive surrounding. Parking was free, easy to navigate and there were plenty of spaces spread over at least 2 sections of car park (east and west of the building as you approach).
Once I had collected our tickets from the friendly lady at the box office, I asked an equally friendly lady with a clipboard, which way we were meant to head towards. After I had asked the lady, I did see plenty of signs which, if I had spent a few more seconds exploring, would have easily seen myself!
Access to the theatre itself was easy with plenty of staff to open doors and show us to your seats if required. The area was clean with no offensive odours and had many more seats than I thought that it might. It also had all the ambiance of any other theatre I have been to.
The show was due to start at 4 and I couldn’t tell you if it was exactly 4pm when it started but it was close enough.
Now, I am not sure exactly what I thought a stage show of Peppa Pig would entail, and having not been to anything of this kind before, I had assumed that it would be lots of people dressed up as Peppa Pig characters – how wrong was I? Well, only partly wrong as Daddy Pig and Mummy Pig were indeed people dressed up as them. The remainder of the characters where all puppets, but not the kind you put your hand inside, and were animated by men and women dressed in black. Presumably not to draw attention to themselves, and it worked as my children didn’t seem to notice them.
The show was split into 2 parts, so at the interval the venue could sell ice cream and merchandise (overpriced in my opinion but we were a captive audience, there at a time when the children are hungry and without food). I think each half was about 25-30 minutes and covered “2 days” of Peppa Pig’s life.
Now, as the title says, the show was all about Peppa Pig’s “surprise”, so I won’t spoil it for you all entirely! All hosted by Peppa Pig’s friend (Daisy) the human – who knew?!
The first half was Peppa playing hide and seek with her friends, jumping in muddy puddles and having a bath before Daisy reads her a story about the red monkey (who then coincidentally comes to life and dances round the “bedroom”.
The second half is all about the “surprise”, which I won’t spoil!
I would definitely go to see a Peppa Pig show again as I did enjoy myself, as did my children, after all it was for them!!
I would totally give the show a 5/5 and recommend you all get yourselves, and your children to see a performance!
Rating: 5/5 
Peppa Pig’s Surprise is currently touring around the UK throughout 2016, for more information or to book tickets at a theatre near you visit www.peppapiglive.com.
For other show at The Hawth in Crawley visit www.parkwoodtheatres.co.uk.
The Hawth, Hawth Avenue, Crawley, Sussex, RH10 6YZ | 01293 553636
