Reviewed by Kathryn Harrison
Most parents of small children will be aware of Bing, a very popular CBeebies television show. Currently the Bing Live theatre show is touring the UK, so on Saturday afternoon I visited The Lowry theatre in Salford, Manchester with my mum and my two year old daughter to watch Bing Live! This was our second time watching this show having previously watched it in September at St Helens Theatre Royal, however as my two year old absolutely loves Bing we knew she would enjoy watching the show again.
In this show Bing is learning about the theatre, Flop shows him the curtains, lights and the audience. Bing is then joined by Sula who has visited the theatre before and tells Bing that they should put on their own show at the theatre. With the help of Amma, Coco and Pando, the gang create their own performance. During this we see Sula and Bing dressing up, are taught a song by Amma and learn a dance from Coco. Throughout the show there’s lots of audience participation giving little ones the chance to sing and dance along with their favourite characters.
The characters are portrayed by large puppets, moved by a team of puppeteers. The puppets appeared quite complex, requiring anything up to three puppeteers to manoeuvrer them. As an adult it was a little distracting having so many people working the puppets however the children didn’t appear to have any problems. Another disappointing part of the show was the voices, all the puppets looked exactly as they do on the tv show yet the characters were voiced by the puppeteers so were obviously different to the tv show. Again this didn’t appear to massively detract from the children’s enjoyment but I do think it would have been better with the original voices.
This show is the perfect treat for all little Bing fans, in fact a great introduction to the theatre for any young children regardless of whether they have seen Bing on the tv or not.
Rating: 4/5
Tickets cost from £16 to £23 (booking fees may apply).
Bing Live is at The Lowry in Manchester from 12-13 January 2019, for more information or to book tickets visit www.thelowry.com or call the box office on 0843 208 6000.
The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays, Manchester, M50 3AZ | 0843 208 6000
