What The Ladybird Heard Review

What The Ladybird Heard
Grand Opera House, York

4-5 March 2014

Reviewed by Pamela Wright

Today I went with my 3 year old twin girls to the Grand Opera House York to see “What the Ladybird Heard”. It was an afternoon showing and only 1 hour long so I thought it would be perfect for them.

We got seated 10 minutes before the show was due to start, our seats up in the dress circle. The girls have never been to the theatre before today so they were a bit curious at first but as we walked we could hear the sound of birds tweeting so straight away they were looking around for the birds. The curtain was raised about 5 minutes before the show was due to start and as soon as it went up the girls were mesmerised and wide eyed – it was a basic but colourful stage and looked like a little farm, you could hear the children pointing out all the different things on stage.

The show started with the “farmer” coming on stage singing a song, he then took off his beard and apologised saying that “she” was the stage manager and that the cast and animals were stuck in traffic so the show would have to be cancelled. Her assistant then came on stage to save the day with some animals she had made so the show could go on but they weren’t very good. Then they came up with the idea that they could play the parts of the farmer and the ladybird if they could get 2 people from the audience to play Hefty Hugh and Lanky Lenny the main villains in the storyline. You could see the excitement in the children’s faces and the dads that were there trying to sink into their seats. After a couple of minutes they picked their volunteers and got them on stage (don’t panic dads, they are the actual cast members placed in the audience!) then they realised they still had no animals so decided to make more – they moved around the stage using bits and pieces lying around the farm and made the animals they needed (which were quite impressive) – it was really quite clever as it was kind of like a “can you tell what it is couple of minutes” the children really enjoyed it.

Then the story started, there was lots of singing and clapping along to the really catchy songs, although Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len are meant to big bad villains who plan on stealing the prize cow, their own songs/dancing routine was really funny and catchy too.

My girls were really excited when they asked everyone to keep an eye out for the ladybird appearing on the stage and to make a certain noise when they saw her.

When it got to the part of the story when Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len tried to steal the prize cow, Charlotte (who had sat on my knee by this point) was shouting at me to go and try and get the cow so the naughty men couldn’t get it…

When the show had finished and the naughty villains got what they deserved they sang another catchy song which had everyone clapping and getting in and out of their seats.

When it had finished neither of them wanted to go and asked if they could stay and watch it again.  On the way home they were whispering and laughing and singing some of the songs together.

I would definitely give this a 5/5, I think it’s amazing that they have made a short children’s story book (which I’m going to buy them for Easter now – they will be sooooo excited to get it) into a 1 hour long show that was really fun and easy for the children to follow and take part in, the length of the show was just right for their age too and I think it would also be good for my 6 year old daughter currently in year 2.

Rating: 5/5 

Tickets cost £13.90 (plus £4 transaction fee).

For more information or to book tickets click here.