The Tiger Who Came To Tea At Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield Review

Reviewed by J Wright

Based on the hugely popular book written and illustrated by Judith Kerr, The Tiger Who Came To Tea is the roarsome live version on tour in the UK at the moment and for one more day you can see the show in Sheffield. Tickets are still available for the morning and afternoon show if you want to join the fun.

This show is really aimed at children aged 3-9 ish but there are plenty of smaller kids who will be entertained by the singing and dancing, the visitors at the door and of course the friendly tiger who comes to tea. There are lots of opportunities for audience participation and certainly all the children I could see were shouting with great enthusiasm. The option to get up and boing around a little means the audience stayed engaged during some of the stiller moments, but in reality the frequency of audience movement and singing is frequent during the 55 minute show, there’s little chance to disengage.  There’s no interval to take a break but I feel there isn’t really a need.

It was good to observe that the house lights stayed up until the stage lights were fully up so there’s no fear of the dark anxiety for the youngest audience members. The volume seemed lower than most shows I’ve seen at The Lyceum in the past, again reducing anything loud and frightening which might perturb smaller children. These are really positive touches which I hope will help to make The Tiger Who Came To Tea an outstanding introduction to theatre for some children.

I also really liked that the house staff were all wearing tiger ears, participating in the fun and noticeable no doubt to the smallest theatre goers.

The tiger, just like in the book, is much larger than Sophie. This might seem a little intimidating but he’s a pretty friendly and cuddlesome character which shouldn’t be too much even for the tiddlers. The scariest moments might be the roars during Tiger-robics, but they aren’t too bad and the fear factor would be mostly lost in the silliness of the actions. It’s very much a family pantomime feel and bound to have your little one enthused about one of their favourite stories being played out in live action before them.

My son, a little older than some at 9, declared the show “good fun” and “pretty cool” although he didn’t want to sing along to the Yummy Yummy Sausages song. He was having fun throughout and I could see he was entertained even if he wouldn’t join in.

The original book, written in 1968, is short and sweet. The show is almost an hour long so there’s additions to the book events which are in keeping, if a little repetitive. It’s to be expected given the ideal age group for this show. Counting, singing and action based songs are the perfect entertainment.

If you have the time to snap up one of the last remaining tickets I feel it’s sure to make any childs day.

Don’t forget to pick up a discount parking ticket at the front of house reception for the Cheese Grater as we know it locally, the QPark.

Find out more and watch excerpts here: The Tiger Who Came to Tea | Sheffield Theatres

Tickets are priced at £15.00-£16.50 https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/book/instance/467201 or call 0114 249 6000.
7th to 9th November 2022

Rating: 5/5