Dinosaur Zoo Live
Phoenix Theatre, London
27 November 2013 – 12 January 2014
Reviewed by Nicola Clift
This weekend I was asked to review a puppeteer show called Dinosaur Zoo at The Phoenix Theatre, London.
I went along with my husband and our 2 boys aged 3 & 7.
The Phoenix Theatre is lovely, small with art deco ceilings and a 30’s feel to it. The facilities are expedient although the bar is small, the show didn’t have an interval so we didn’t use the bar but I’d imagine it would be relatively difficult to get a drink quickly.
Our seats were in the third row from the front, The Danger Zone, according to the Director, Scott. By Danger Zone he told us we may come into contact with some dinosaurs and we should be afraid, this delighted my 7 year old but petrified my 3 year old who didn’t leave my lap for the rest of the show.
Scott told us a bit about himself and threw in just the right amount of adult humour to keep both children and adults attention. He then brought out 2 baby dinosaurs, I was quite surprised that the ‘puppetness’? of the puppets was very obvious, Scott had made no secret of the fact that they were puppets but it took some of the enjoyment of watching away because it was so obvious with the puppeteer holding the puppet and his/her arm being visible.
Scott involved a couple of the children from the audience which was nice, he also promised to bring the dinosaurs out to the foyer afterwards which he did but to be honest this wasn’t very well managed and in fact quite dangerous as the foyer was very small and people we’re falling over themselves trying to get back to see them which was quite intimidating.
The show itself was relatively educational, humorous at times, however it was only 50 minutes long which doesn’t represent value for money in my opinion. It seemed like the creators had come up with a good idea but then rushed it through to theatre half complete rather than waiting until they had got a proper show together that would represent good value for money. This proved to be the case when at the end Scott announced that his team we’re in the process of making further dinosaurs. I believe that they should have waited until this had been done before they took it to the stage.
Rating: 3/5
Tickets cost from £14 to £21.50 (plus £3 transaction fee).
For more information or to book tickets visit dinosaurzoolive.com.
