The Owl Who Came For Christmas At The Curve Leicester Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Mel Randle
This morning, myself and my daughter (age 7) were fortunate to be invited to review the 10.30am production of The Owl Who Came For Christmas at The Curve Theatre, Leicester. This is our first visit to The Curve, so as a note for anyone who hasn’t been, the seating is lovely. Every row is raked so there was absolutely no problem with anyone seeing, regardless of who you have in front of you. And there are booster seats available for little people.
The show is a really Christmassy feel good show for the whole family, but particularly aimed at 3+ and would make an absolutely perfect introduction to the theatre for young children. We dressed in our finest Christmas jumpers and Christmas hair accessories which really got us in the mood. It is based on the children’s book by John Hay and Garry Parson, which was inspired by the true story of Rosie the owl who was found in a family’s Christmas tree. We had not read the book but it is very easy to follow so not essential.
The production had just four members taking on different parts. They swapped between being human characters, animals and puppeteers. They defined these changes with small costume additions, all very seamless and kept us immersed. The animal costumes were just beautiful and the puppets – Rosie the Owl and a dog were adorable (my daughter’s words). They had an interchangeable set which moved between the Christmas Tree Farm and the family’s home, and several props which all added to the fun and festivities! There were a few extra surprises along the way but I will leave those for you to find out for yourselves!
The cast encouraged audience participation from the start….. we clapped, hooted, flapped our wings and sang-a-long to Jingle Bells. Half way through, two children were chosen from the audience to go on stage and feed ‘Rosie’. My daughter jumped to her feet when they asked for volunteers and was over the moon to be chosen. She was given a little Rosie magnet for her effort. All this encouragement to be involved kept the whole audience engaged throughout.
At the end of the show we were all ushered to the special ‘woodland’ exit and were given the opportunity to meet and have a photo with ‘Rosie’. Everybody, children and adults alike, left the theatre with a smile on their face and a Christmas spring in their step.
The show is being filmed and shared in a special streamed performance with Rainbows Hospices for Children and Young People giving those with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions the opportunity to enjoy this heart warming story when they are otherwise unable to attend a performance in person.
The show runs at The Curve until 6th January. Booking via link below. All performance are relaxed making it accessible for all, with BSL/caption/audio described on specific dates. Please see website for details….
The Owl Who Came for Christmas – Curve Theatre, Leicester (curveonline.co.uk)
https://www.curveonline.co.uk/whats-on/shows/the-owl-who-came-for-christmas/
Rating: I highly recommend this this show as does my daughter and we give it a 5/5!!
Rating: 5/5