Ben & Holly LIVE
Buxton Opera House
Reviewed by Sue Surgey
Having a two year old that loves Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom I was so excited to be going to see the show, and even though Buxton Opera House is practically on the door step, I'd never been so a double treat!
Having never been to the Opera House I checked out their website for directions and parking details before setting off, and I have to say they weren't brilliant on detail. So I took the Sat Nav and off we went… I followed Sat Nav and just as we were approaching the street that the Opera House is on, I noticed a sign post for Parking and 'Pavillion Gardens' which I recognised from the Internet as being close by, so we headed into there. This car park couldn't have been more perfect it was a short stroll through a lovely garden/park to the end then turn the corner to find the Opera House.
We paid for three hours parking and it cost £3.00 however we had arrived early to pick up tickets and to make sure we could find it, so you could possibly manage with the 2 hours which was £2.00. It took approx 5 minutes to walk from the car park however, it can take longer as there is a lovely market hall style shopping area to walk though in the Pavilion Gardens and lovely cafe (though service very slow so allow time if dining before the theatre).
We arrived 45 minutes before our performance and picked up the tickets with ease from the Box Office just inside this beautiful old building, only queuing for a few minutes – my only criticism of this part of the experience was the lack of information – I was just handed the tickets and sent on my way, we had to ask on of the stewards selling merchandise in the hallway what time we could go to our seats. Anyway we were told to come back in 40 minutes so we went back to the Pavilion Gardens for a drink as we couldn't see anywhere in the Opera House to buy one.
On our arrival back at the theatre it was a little busier, fortunately when we had picked up the tickets I had made note of the sign on the wall for the stalls entrance, so we headed straight to the correct door. We then, were directed by the little hallways of this extremely quaint building to the main room which was simply stunning, and how one would expect a glamorous old Opera House to look. Once in the room there were several very helpful ladies showing people to their seats, we were on row H (8 from the front) and had a perfect view of the stage. When the music started, which was exactly the same as the TV show, my two year old sat mesmerised and very still (unheard of!!) then the character's Ben & Holly appeared. I was unsure how they would make a cartoon show come to life for theatre, but they did and made a fantastic job! The masks really worked and left my little one thinking it really was Ben & Holly. Lots of singing and dancing and recreating of some the actual TV episodes packed the first half (with some less than slick set changes at times – though remembering this show is aimed at under fives it didn't really matter at all).
The first half finished with a very effective scene where the characters were flying back to the Little Kingdom with Lucy from the big world, after Nanny Plum – when being a tooth fairy had been to Lucy's house to collect her tooth, and woken her up. Puppets were used to create this scene and it was amazing, it really captured the attention of the little audience.
Half an hour interval was a little long for small one. Although, had the theatre been full, that time would have been necessary to use the toilets and purchase ice cream from the helpful ladies who had appeared with their little Ice cream and lollipop stand (took my back to my childhood cinema days). Be prepared for an expensive half hour too… small tubs of ice cream and Cornetto's £2.20 each, coupled with program sales at £5.
The second half continued the story as the characters arrived back in the Little Kingdom, and then followed another packed half with stories from the TV episodes. This half saw more of the favourite characters such as King Thistle and the Wise Old Elf appearing.
The production is aimed at the under fives and I think they did a fantastic job of recreating a very popular TV show for theatre, for this age group. I took my 10 year old along with me too and although he felt a little old to be there he loved it! and my 2 year old has never kept still for that long before, so a definite thumbs up from him too! So 10/10 from us for the production.
The venue is absolutely beautiful and I would definitely use it again for children's or adults performances (on the way out I did notice a bar area although not sure when this open, it didn't appear to be prior to our show – or if it was, it wasn't promoted in any way) so based on this, for location, parking and facilities surrounding the venue I give it 9/10.
Rating: 4.5/5
Ben and Holly LIVE is currently on tour, for your nearest theatre and to book tickets click here.
