Reviewed by Dottie Rood
I was very pleased to be returning to this lovely venue to see the first stage adaptation of Judith Kerrs popular series of Mogs family adventures. The venue is very easy to find as they send you a ‘What you need to know’ email a few days before the event which did indeed contain everything I needed to know including the Sat Nav information for the nearest car park, this was only a 10 minute walk away.
When we arrived we were greeted by very informative, friendly staff and found the venue very clean and extremely well organised, they had activities and books available all about Mog which appeared to be very popular with all the children, they also had a reasonable selection of refreshments on offer that were reasonably priced.
The opening of the story was when Mr Bunce (played by Tom England who also played a number of other characters!) came on stage to welcome us all with lots of enthusiasm and a very cheerful manor, he got the attention of the children straight away and maintained it all the way through. He introduced us to his musician friend (who also played the D.J., burglar and other characters) played by Max Gallagher who maintained the musical theme throughout the whole performance. They started in a pet shop were we met a number of very lively ‘animals’ and then the Thomas’s (Mog’s family) who were next (Mum-Kerry Lovell, Dad-Ben Vardy and the children, Nicky-Jesse Meadows and Debbie-Maria Goodman) again they were very enthusiastic (and again played a number of different characters!). Then we met Mog! (played by Georgina Goodchild) and this is when Judith’s story really came to life, she was suburb!
Mog is based on Judith’s family pet from over 50 years ago and I hope their cat didn’t get up to all the mischief that followed.
We saw Mog forgetting where the cat flap was, that she’d already had supper and that she was not allowed on ‘Dad’s’ green chair! This was all very entertaining and the story easy to follow however poor Mog was continually hearing ‘bother that cat’ as she was deemed a nuisance especially by Mr Thomas! Then the day was saved when she warned the family of a very stereo typical burglar who was trying to steal the family silver! what really made me smile was the tea he was given in a cup and saucer while they called the police!
The adventures continued while the cast portrayed a number of other Mog adventures including Mog and the V.E.T. (with a particularly well synchronised eventual capture of poor Mog who had a thorn in her paw) and Mog’s Bad Thing (that involved an amusing animal dance at the cat show and, due to Mog being to frightened to use her toilet in the garden that was a result of the flapping of the white show tent, proceeded to ‘wee’ on Mr Thomas’s favourite green chair! much to the amusement (and horror) of all the children.
This all kept the children enwrapped for the entire hour long show (which I think was just right for the mostly under 5 year old’s that were there) and as Mog got a medal at the cat show and a complimentary speech from ‘Dad’ it was a very happy ending. This was a lovely family show and venue that I would recommend.
Rating: 5/5 (especially with Grandchildren’s input)
Tickets cost: From £18.00
Mog the Forgetful Cat is at The Lowry Theatre Manchester
On From: Tuesday 5th April till Saturday 8th April 2023
For more information or to book tickets visit: thelowry.com
Or call the Box Office: 0161 876 2000
Address of Theatre: Pier 8 The Quays, Salford, Manchester, M50 3AZ