Dinosaurs And All That Rubbish At The Lowry, Salford Review

Reviewed by Dottie Rood

Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish was an imaginative adaptation of a book of the same name written by Michael Foreman and performed by Robyn, Shay and Ollie from Outabout Theatre in The Lowry workshop on Sunday 28th May 2023. It was I hour long and the recommended age was 3+. The theatre is easy to find, has lots of parking, is very clean, provides food and drink and very friendly, helpful staff!

The beginning of the show is a very cheerful upbeat song all about how the earth began, it immediately captures the children’s attention as it is lively, with the 3 characters pulling some very funny faces and including lots of actions. They also included some sign language to represent different animals which the children tried to copy.

It continues by introducing the notion of ‘dreams’ and ‘man’ who has a dream about reaching the star he sees in the sky. The story carries on using movable sets, songs and costume changes to explain how ‘man’ achieves this dream by destroying the planet using his money and power. He does this by building a rocket that is fuelled by burning all the trees and destroying everything around.

It was at this point that some of the children asked were the dinosaurs where! However the slightly older children were much more in tune with what was happening.

The rocket finally takes off and leaves behind devastation and that’s when the dinosaurs wake up to reclaim the planet Earth (although it was in such a state they were horrified) and the children became very excited (especially with the brilliant ‘stomp’ song to join in with!).

As far as the younger children were concerned this was the highlight of the show but the older children and the adults were interested in what had happened to the earth and how it was going to be repaired. This was done by the dinosaurs (who were very entertaining).

Meanwhile ‘man’ wasn’t enjoying being on his star as there was nothing to see except another star (which just happened to be earth!) and he decided to travel to see that star. When he arrived he was so pleased with everything he could see he wanted ‘just a piece for himself’ however the Diplodocus said if he promised to look after the earth he could have it all with everyone else who would care for it.

“This time the Earth belongs to everyone, not parts of it to certain people but all of it to everyone, to be enjoyed and cared for!!!”

This was a very emotive story for those of us who could understand what the book was trying to tell us and a very good introduction to environmental changes for younger children. I would say it was more suited to slightly older children who could explore and understand the message and the ‘rock and roll’ songs.

It was very enjoyable and we bought the book (and met the cast) at the end which we read again when we got home. This re-enforced the message for them again and they seemed to understand some aspects of looking after our planet.
The show is being performed in a number o other theatres around the country but has now finished at the Lowry, there are however always lots of interesting shows on and can be booked by contacting The Lowry:

Box Office;
Monday-Friday 9am-8pm
Saturday 10am – 8pm
Sunday 10am-6pm
01618762000
The Lowry Theatre Pier 8 The Quays Salford M503AZ

Rating: 4/5