Play time
Family theatre shows reviewed by adults and children together
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Burnell has adapted her own book for a show for under-sevens featuring songs, audience participation and some charming puppets
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This Dick King-Smith adaptation is a bit unsteady on its trotters but its merriment has some of the audience bouncing in their seats
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Peter Glanville directs an enchanting musical adaptation of Helen Stephens’ picture book about a girl who strikes up a friendship with a forlorn lion
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The children’s favourite is brought thrillingly up to date with a string of fairy lights, a handful of glitter and a healthy dose of imagination
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Parts of the narration may fly over the heads of its youngest watchers, but this show about a bird branching out into the world is vivid, sweet and gently thrilling
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A companion piece to this theatre’s autumn show Emily Rising delivers some escapist fun for the under-sixes
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Dan Rebellato’s play, which follows a 10-year-old facing the world when her parents split up, is beautiful, sad and full of clever touches
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The CBeebies favourite has been cast as Mr Perks in this imaginative adaptation of E Nesbit’s classic – but the real star of the show pulls in later
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This garden-set solo show fascinates 10-month-old Laurie, who claps, aaahs approvingly and then attempts to eat the props
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This children’s show is boosted by a beautiful set design and imaginatively realised creatures, including a couple of sock-snails
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There’s not much story to speak of, but this play based on Emily Hughes’s picturebook offers the young crowd the chance to get their hands dirty
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By aiming solely to amuse six-and-unders, this show about the chaos of getting to bed is hysterical – thanks to squirted water, disco freakouts and a ‘boogieman’
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From Going Solo’s deserts, through the Fantastical forests of Mr Fox to Matilda’s magic library, this walk through the author’s worlds comes to life with a stutter
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A puppet Peppa and her family have fun around the house in a touring stage version that stays close to the TV series and gets the kids singing and giggling
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From tubs of mud to two bees performing a wiggly nectar dance, this is an informative but oddly paced introduction to insects and vegetation
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It may not have the most sophisticated narrative, but this tale of Santa looking for a polar bear pal is an engaging and funny Christmas treat
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Kids are likely to relish an infectiously fun show that sticks to the rulebook and offers festive spirit in abundance
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Lizzie Wort’s sparkling one-woman show floods the stage with colour and a thousand magical flourishes
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The tale of an improbable trio of window-cleaning animals has been adapted into a perfect Christmas treat for children
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Nick Butterworth’s picture book After the Storm is brought to the stage in a comforting production with some precious moments
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Emma Reeves’s story, based on a number of Russian folk tales, doesn’t shy away from the unfairness of family life
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Adapted from Raymond Briggs’s picture book, this enchanting production is everything children’s theatre should be
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An inventive and earnest staging of Frann Preston-Gannon’s book boasts beautiful puppets but goes adrift for some younger audience members
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Handmade puppets teach friendship and hugging, in a mysterious world adapted from Joyce Dunbar’s book
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Russell Hoban’s tale of an adventure to a lollipop mountain is adapted with some lively flashes but this show loses the original’s oblique charms
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A polar bear and a husky strike up a friendship in a show that captivates the audience with digital projections, fun costumes and warm performances
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Creation Theatre’s updated, promenade version of Alice in Wonderland is sophisticated stuff aimed at young adults but doesn’t lose sight of its core appeal
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This musical version of the classic tale, with Blue’s Simon Webbe as the big bad wolf, has sizzling moments but fails to bring the house down
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An exquisitely designed adaptation of the children’s classic that captivates from start to finish
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Bawdy slapstick has pace problems but is smartly enlivened by a brilliant comic double act’s naughtiness
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Although a little overlong, these Julia Donaldson stories burst onto the stage in a riot of gleefully unsophisticated energy
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CBeebies’ resident clown shares his origin myth at a Manchester international festival appearance that is seriously silly
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The marionettes in this floating puppet show are beautiful and skilfully used, but the story is aimless and the young audience is not on board
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Imaginart’s colourful production invites its young audience on an adventure around furry craters, through sparkly tunnels and into their imagination
The Iron Man review – Ted Hughes classic clangs on to stage