Reviewed by Emma Booth
Me and my daughter (age 7) visited The Hawth theatre in Crawley on a rather chilly night to see the exciting Chinese New Year Extravaganza. It was to celebrate the Chinese New Year (This fell on the 16th of February).
We were treated to a colourful and vibrant show full of Chinese cultural traditions such as the lion dance, kung fu and the thrilling face changing. I really enjoyed watching the juggling acts, we’ve all seen juggling before, but they took it to the next level by juggling sometimes standing on each other’s shoulders and in groups of 4 or more making it humorous as well. Another act that stood out were the lady’s spinning the plates they had many plates spinning in both hands while also doing acrobatics, I think we all thought that the plates must have been glued as not one fell and they made it look so easy but at the end we were all shocked when they dropped all the plates proving that they were definitely not stuck on.
There were a couple of acts that lost the attention of my daughter and I must say myself as well. The kung fu and Tai Chi acts were not as interesting as some of the other exciting acts but you could tell there was so much concentration and years of dedication gone in to perfecting the skill that was shown.
The one act that really stood out was the face changing. I’d never heard of it before but basically from the Chinese opera where the performers use face masks and change them at lightning speed, so the audience doesn’t see the change, this act is truly dazzling and a real treat to see.
The only thing I didn’t get, If it’s the year of the dog, what’s with the pandas?
All in all, it was a great night out with some amazing acts with a couple of more sedate acts mixed in.
The Hawth theatre is always a pleasure to visit with its ample free parking and a good range of food at reasonable prices, this makes it one of my favourite theatres to visit and it’s very family friendly with lovely helpful staff.
Rating: 4/5
For other shows at The Hawth in Crawley visit hawth.co.uk or call the box office on 01293 553636.
The Hawth, Hawth Avenue, Crawley, Sussex, RH10 6YZ | 01293 553636
