I Want My Hat Back At The Little Angel Studio, London Review

Reviewed by Laura S

The Little Angel Studios is perfectly located in Islington for easy reach of several train, tube stations and bus routes.
The theatre is accessible, with a disabled bathroom, a lift to the theatre studio on the first floor and a ramp to the outdoor quad area. We arrived a little early and found the quad area very comfortable to wait as it is partly shaded with a setting area.

The is a bathroom on the ground floor which include a baby changing unit and two cubicles which are spacious. I liked that there is a sink and soap at a child-friendly height. The onsite shop sells merchandise as well as drinks and snacks which are reasonably priced.

The theatre is small and intimate which seats approximately 60 people. The size of the theatre is perfect for children as it is not too overwhelming in size and due to its small size, the audio isn’t too loud.  The children are encouraged to sit on mats, right at the front of the performance area so that they have a prime view and also give them space to move around.

I Want My Hat Back Trilogy is a set of three stories written by Jon Klassen. Each story follows the other with the main feature of a hat that has many adventures.

The Little Angel Studios have turned the Trilogy into a captivating play aimed at children 3-6 years. I thought the specified age range was perfect for the show as older children would probably not be engaged for long enough.

The set and creatures are made from cardboard and a reused set of dresser draws. The cardboard animals and props looked just like the characters out of the books. The artistic skill in creating the set and props is almost unimaginable. It was also delightful to see materials recycled in order to create the set and props.

Along with the wonderful cardboard animals and set there is a range of light, sound and sensory additions to add to the story and atmosphere. The children loved the changing lights and sounds that helped to bring the stories to life.
My children loved the audience participation elements of the play and were fully lost in the stories as were all of the other children. They didn’t turn around once to check if I was still sitting in my seat.

Rating: Overall we give I Want My Hat Back Trilogy 5/5, it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon from start to finish. The children were entertained from start to finish and totally mesmerised by what was going on in the stories. The three separate stories definately helped to keep the children fully entertained. We loved that the children all sat together in front to have a perfect view and to be able to jiffle about freely without annoying others. This production is 100% geared up for children. We highly recommend watching the production.

Tickets cost £13.50 each for adults and £11.50 for children over 1 year old. Performances are taking place until 31st July, with several showings on some days.

Check out the website for further details https://www.littleangeltheatre.com/whats-on/i-want-my-hat-back-trilogy/
There are also workshops based on I Want My Hat Back available to book through the link above.