The Gruffalo

Birmingham Town Hall

Although our son loves The Gruffalo he was apprehensive about seeing the Tall Stories Production at Birmingham’s Town Hall. “I don’t want to go and see the real Gruffalo, mummy. He’s scary.”

I needed my three-year-old reviewer by my side, so with a little bribery ( a packet of chocolate buttons in my bag) we managed to get him to go along.

But, we needn’t have worried as for the next 50 minutes we were all transfixed.

The picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler was brought to life by the three-man cast. You found yourself laughing out loud during the musical adaptation as the mouse took us on a magical journey through the deep dark wood while the story was told by a narrator.

The fox was a ‘wheeler-dealer’ and strutted around the stage ready to pounce on the mouse, the eccentric owl took on the role of a sergeant major and brought everyone to attention and the snake slithered and shook his maracas.

Our young reviewer sat perched on my knee and did not move. The audience was given every opportunity to join in whether it was finishing lines or clapping along to the songs. It was amazing how the youngsters (and the adults!) knew every line from the book and were shouting out, finishing the sentences.

And then the star attraction appeared – The Gruffalo with his orange eyes, black tongue, terrible claws and turned-out toes! And after roaring and pretending to be a Gruffalo for five minutes, Daniel didn’t bat an eyelid when the real thing appeared on stage.

It was so much fun to see a show so refreshing. The production certainly looked good to Daniel. And I can also say that the chocolate buttons remained in my bag and were not touched.

Lisa Bailey

• The Gruffalo is on at the Town Hall until Sunday (January 3). Tickets are £10.50. The box office number is 0121 780 3333 or book online www.thsh.co.uk