The Lost World at The Hawth Crawley Review

Reviewed by Emma Booth

I took my daughter to The Hawth theatre in Crawley last night (25 August 2017) to see The Lost World, which is performed by Illyria, an open-air touring theatre.

The Lost World tells the thrilling adventure, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the story of adventurers traveling to South America out on the hunt for fascinating plants and animals. They come across dinosaurs previously thought to be extinct and tribes and then try to bring back species for proof of their existence, with lots of laughter and fun along the way.

The show took place in the amphitheatre that was situated just behind the theatre, a short way into the woods, and is set amongst the trees. It was beautiful on the hot summers evening that we had. The show was a bit slow to get going and didn’t capture my daughters interest at first, but it soon picked up the pace when the dinosaurs came out. T-Rex was by far the show stealer and the little puppets were very funny. I liked the way they made dinosaurs out of everyday items like umbrellas and dustbin lids, you can really use your imagination and picture them in your head. It was a real treat to sit outside and see this. Some people took chairs blankets and picnics, we would definitely recommend taking blankets as it does start to get cold towards the end. The theatre is still open throughout for toilets and food and drink and in the interval they bring out the ice creams that you can buy. The only thing was I noticed that people with wheelchairs struggled with the deep going into the woods, maybe someone could have been there to help them.

We had a lovely evening and would definitely recommend any outdoor theatre productions that they have in the future. My daughter (7) loved it.

Rating: 4/5

For other shows at The Hawth in Crawley visit hawth.co.uk or call the box office on 01293 553636.

The Hawth, Hawth Avenue, Crawley, Sussex, RH10 6YZ | 01293 553636