This weekend we took the girls to the theatre in Newbury to see a brilliant stage show of Babe, The Sheep-Pig.
Babe, The Sheep Pig is a live stage retelling of the famous Dick King-Smith story of The Sheep Pig and we added it to a wonderful restaurant lunch to turn it into a perfect family day out. The show was perfectly pitched for families - not so arty as to confuse the children, but definitely not dumbed-down for kids. From the lighting to the costumes, from the singing to the puppetry, this theatrical retelling of the Sheep Pig was everything you'd expect from a stage show and would make a perfect introduction to the theatre for children.
Babe, The Sheep-Pig is a story about a little pig who gets taken in by a farmer and his sheep-dog. The maternal sheep-dog Fly looks after Babe and helps pass on some of the skills it takes to become a prize-winning sheep-dog. But Babe soon learns that he has one more skill he can bring - politeness - and this means he cstands a chance of being a prize-winning sheep-pig.
Lara and Holly both spent the entire show wrapped up in its magic. They giggled at the silly sheep (whose costumes were perfect); they oohed and aaahed at the terrifying wolf; they joined in with the chants to help Babe be his best and they cheered when Babe found glory. Both Lara and Holly did find the end of the first act a little disturbing; there is strobe lighting, a very dark part-human / part-puppet representation of a wolf, a death scene and a threat with a gun. Surprisingly, most of the children in the theatre coped pretty well with this scene and it definitely got people talking and thinking before the interval.
We enjoyed all the costume changes, dances and musical numbers and we felt that the puppets fitted into the show seamlessly.
To see where Babe, The Sheep-Pig will be performing, visit www.BabeThePigLive.com. There are venues all over the UK from now until mid-September so there are lots of chances to see the show.
Babe, The Sheep Pig is a live stage retelling of the famous Dick King-Smith story of The Sheep Pig and we added it to a wonderful restaurant lunch to turn it into a perfect family day out. The show was perfectly pitched for families - not so arty as to confuse the children, but definitely not dumbed-down for kids. From the lighting to the costumes, from the singing to the puppetry, this theatrical retelling of the Sheep Pig was everything you'd expect from a stage show and would make a perfect introduction to the theatre for children.
Babe, The Sheep-Pig is a story about a little pig who gets taken in by a farmer and his sheep-dog. The maternal sheep-dog Fly looks after Babe and helps pass on some of the skills it takes to become a prize-winning sheep-dog. But Babe soon learns that he has one more skill he can bring - politeness - and this means he cstands a chance of being a prize-winning sheep-pig.
Lara and Holly both spent the entire show wrapped up in its magic. They giggled at the silly sheep (whose costumes were perfect); they oohed and aaahed at the terrifying wolf; they joined in with the chants to help Babe be his best and they cheered when Babe found glory. Both Lara and Holly did find the end of the first act a little disturbing; there is strobe lighting, a very dark part-human / part-puppet representation of a wolf, a death scene and a threat with a gun. Surprisingly, most of the children in the theatre coped pretty well with this scene and it definitely got people talking and thinking before the interval.
We enjoyed all the costume changes, dances and musical numbers and we felt that the puppets fitted into the show seamlessly.
To see where Babe, The Sheep-Pig will be performing, visit www.BabeThePigLive.com. There are venues all over the UK from now until mid-September so there are lots of chances to see the show.
