Tales From Acorn Wood At Christmas At The Birmingham Hippodrome Review

Reviewed by Mrs Jenna Farmer

Is it even Christmas without a Julia Donaldson special? Best known for children’s hits The Gruffalo and Zog, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler are also creators of the simple but beautiful Tales from Acorn Wood lift-the-flap stories. These simple stories, which are loved by children across the country, are perfect for new readers and little hands. The show features a host of characters that children already love, with classics such as Fox’s socks and Hide and Seek Pig.

For the first time, this Christmas show brings these famous books to the big stage for a magical adventure. The show consists of five stories (based on the books which are also available to buy in reception). These are: Fox’s Socks (where you’re invited to hunt for fox’s socks); Rabbit’s nap (watch as rabbit’s sleep is constantly interrupted by the acorn wood gang); Postman bear (where bear sends his letters to his birthday party) and hide-and-seek Pig (an interactive hunt for pig’s friend hen). The show then culminates with the fifth story, a lovely festive tale of Squirrel’s snowman, which-spoiler alert-even comes with a sprinkle of Christmas snow!

The show is delivered with life-size puppets and a few adult helpers. Despite being flap books, the stories translated to the stage really well. The staging cleverly uses real and digital ‘flaps’, so children can marvel at doors and windows revealing what’s behind them just like they do with the books at home. This is also done with clever animations that almost pop out on the stage in front of you.

The show is perfectly suited for a younger audience. Each story is only ten minutes long so it’s perfect for a toddler’s short attention span. As well as having lots of interaction (such as questions, sing-along-songs and encouraging little ones to help join in with the show), there’s also regular movement breaks too. We loved how there was plenty of space and time built in for our 3 year old to stomp his feet, clap and jump after each show and this really prevented any wriggling from seats!

At just over an hour along, it felt like the perfect length of time for us, and it’s also housed in The Hippodrome’s smaller space so it didn’t feel too overwhelming to enter and exit. Both our 3 year and 18 month old loved the show and were engaged throughout. We loved the accompanying play area set up outside of the show, where children could post letters to Santa (just like a postman bear) and also engage in imaginary play.

Whilst there’s lots of Christmas shows, there’s not many aimed at toddlers and preschoolers and we think the show is perfect for those one year and up (the guidance is 18 months-6 years).

Rating: 5/5

Tales from Acorn Wood is at Christmas Birmingham Hippodrome Review from the 17th-31st December.

Tickets cost from £19 and can booked at https://www.birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/tales-from-acorn-wood/ or call the box office 0844 338 5000.

Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre, Hurst Street, Southside, Birmingham, B5 4TB