The Three Little Pigs Theatre by the Lake Keswick Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Jo Hardy
The moral in the fable “Three Little Pigs”is patience and hard work pay off in the end.
I can remember this story from my childhood and it is a story I have often read to my granddaughter who is five, so it was lovely for us to go together to Theatre by the Lake to watch this show.
It is presented by the “Stuff and Nonsense” Theatre Company, who have been entertaining families since 2000 with a unique mixture of acting, puppets and music, often bringing a modern take on a old classic, it is so nice to see them back at Theatre by the Lake this half term holiday.
On the drive to the theatre my granddaughter started talking about the other shows we’d been to see at Theatre by the Lake, I was amazed and delighted that she had remembered as some of them were over a year ago, she even talked about the stickers she had been given at the end of the show.
The show starts with a narrator announcing that he is going to tell us the story of the big bad wolf. He doesn’t get very far before the three little pigs enter the theatre from the side door, and before we know it they are on the stage and become part of the story. Although the basics of the story are there, this is a reimagined version by the stuff and nonsense theatre company, it is full of joy, laughter, and surprises. With only two performers, the energy Jenny Harold and Donald Craigie put into their performance was incredible, the way they brought the little pig puppets to life was seamless and so skilful. Jenny mainly played the eldest pig and Donal mainly played the narrator/wolf but they both played other small part characters. The only other person on stage was someone signing the whole performance and he was fabulous too.
It took a while before the pigs started to build their houses and I had started to think the show was going miss out this crucial part but it all came in the final 15 minutes and the building of the straw house and it getting blown away was my favourite part in whole show. The brick house was a little disappointing and needed a lot of imagination.
Some of the younger children in the audience were getting a little restless towards the end of the show but my little companion was engrossed throughout, this was a true “making memories” event for us.
The Three Little Pigs is at Theatre by the Lake from Saturday 17th Feb to Tuesday 20th Feb with shows at 11am and 2pm, all tickets are priced at £14 and can be booked through the theatre web site theatrebythelake.com, there is a delivery charge of £1.00 for tickets to be picked up at the box office and £1.50 for posting out tickets, there is no delivery charge for an e-ticket.
The performance is in the main house of the theatre and runs for 60 mins with no intermission, it is suitable for ages 3 – 10.
https://www.theatrebythelake.com/event/the-three-little-pigs/
Rating: 4/5.