We love Julia Donaldson books in this house. So we were thrilled to be invited to review Stick Man live tour at Waterside arts, sale. I love taking my kids to the theatre, it makes a lovely and memorable family day out.
This was our second trip to Waterside arts, we reviewed their Christmas family show last year. They really do select the best shows for kids. We were given 3 tickets to see this show in exchange for this blog post.
I took my two girls to see Stick Man on the first day of my eldest’s half term. They are 3 and 6 years old and they both love listening to Stick Man so I hoped that they would enjoy the show. We were not disappointed, Freckle productions but on a fantastic show to celebrate 10 years of Stick Man.
Watch the trailer here:
The theatre was packed out as you might expect and a lot of the children were under 5. The cast and producers have done an amazing job of transforming this much-loved book into a family show that really engages the audience.
The show is just an hour long. The perfect length for family theatre but still a long time for under 5s to stay still and quiet. Stick Man though kept a packed theatre entertained for the full hour. I never heard so much as a cry from even the youngest children.
I won’t say that the children all sat still and quiet for the show because they weren’t meant to. The cast interacted with the audience and included us at times. Also because the story stays true to the book, you could hear children (my own included) joining in with the words which is always lovely.
The audience had great fun when the cast included them in the show. My kids were amazed when a lady dressed as a dog ran off to hide in the audience and ended up right next to us. They were soon laughing and shouting along with all the other kids to let the other cast members know where the dog was.
Another highlight for my two was when the cast threw a beach ball into the audience several times and everyone tried to get it to the back of the theatre. Great fun for all the family.
The show stays true to the story from the book. Stick Man lives in the family tree with his stick lady love and 3 children. One morning when out for a jog he gets taken by a dog to play fetch, used as a poo stick by a child, included in a nest by a swan, washed out to sea and used as a mast for a sandcastle.
The cast of just 3 does an amazing job of showing Stick Man’s journey. The music is catchy and really adds to the atmosphere. We loved all the sound effects the musician added to the story. I also loved how the props and music really set the scenes well such as when stick man goes into the river and sea and when it snows.
Overall we loved this live family theatre show. It’s not hard to see why it is award-winning and so popular with young audiences. I can’t wait to take my kids back to Waterside arts to see Mr Popper’s penguins in December.
Stick Man live is a Freckle productions tour. It’s on tour until the end of December. See which venues it’s at up until the end of the tour here.
Pin for later:
Disclosure – We were given tickets to the show in exchange for this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Photography was not allowed during the show so these are the press images. Other than the cast changing, these photos are true to the show.
I went to see this a couple of years ago with my eldest and we loved it! Such a clever show and really fun 🙂 Glad you enjoyed x
I love it when they bring great children’s books to the theatre for live shows – such a great way to get children interested in the arts from a young age. My boys saw The Gruffalo twice when they were little.
That sounds amazing! My eldest loves stick man. We were going to see the Gruffalo at the theatre a few weeks ago but he was poorly so we had to miss it. Hopefully we’ll get to the theatre again soon
We’ve seen Stick Man live before close to where we live and it was so lovely – much enjoyed by all!
This sounds like a really fun production. A great show for kids!
Mimi would love this, she really enjoys reading the book together. It looks great.
This is an awesome Act. Not only for kids. It’s for everybody. We all surely enjoy this Stick man!
Wow how fab does this show look. I like the vibrancy and it looks fun and interactive xx