Tiddler & Other Terrific Tales Review

Leicester Square Theatre 8 July – 3 September.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s classic children’s stories return to the stage this summer in a delightful and charming show. Beginning with a prolonged non-verbal section where the cast excitedly explore the set and boxes of props – drawing a bemused “Why won’t they say hello to us?” from a nearby child – the cast soon show their musical skills with an introductory song that warns the audience that the Gruffalo will not be appearing.

Leonie Spilsbury, Brian Hargreaves and Lauren Silver present A Squash and a Squeeze, Tiddler, The Smartest Giant in Town in a delightful mix of music and rhyme, with the children in the audience giggling in anticipation of the funny moments from the familiar tales. Monkey Puzzle is used as a framing device, allowing lots of clowning around as the cast pretend to be jungle animals between the other stories to great effect. The show is slickly ramshackle, with puppets being made of rope and feather dusters, and animals made of cushions with faces and tails attached. But this is the charm of the production. These are things the children can use to imagine the stories at home, and the young audience is trusted to imagine parts of the stories themselves. In fact, Tiddler’s great leaps of imagination are not embellished at all – the cast just narrate the tall tales as the children giggle along – not a mermaid in sight. The scary part of Tiddler’s story is portrayed using simple shadow puppets, which made a few younger children cling to their parents, but mostly elicited squeals of delighted horror and “I’m not as scared as you” competitions.

The cast are fantastically energetic and engaging, playing instruments and manipulating the props wonderfully to create a little bit of storybook magic for the very young audience. There are enough moments of knowing humour to keep the accompanying adults happy too, although most of the time your head is spinning as the entertainment watching the children’s reactions to what is happening on stage is as satisfying as watching the cast. I mean that in the best way possible – this show had the children enthralled from start to finish, and is a brilliant way to introduce young audiences to the theatre.

Tiddler & Other Terrific Tales is a perfect summer treat for young families – imaginative retellings of firm favourites in a relaxed and entrancing show.