Dad (Tim Hibbard) Girl (Neha Eapen) and Boy (Benedict Hastings) enter with ‘baby’ calling for Buggy (Benjamin Hills), who is also the main musician.
The theatre lights are full on so it all starts very informally. The cast immediately make contact with the audience asking them if they have seen Buggy. This turns out to be their dog, who shows up, and they then go into their objective, to hunt for a bear. Unfortunately, they do not know what a bear looks like so ask the audience for advice, which they love.
When they have a description, lights go down and they go into their first song, "We’re Going On A Bear Hunt". This is sung several times to the extent the audience all join in with it later. Again audience participation; the whole show has a pantomime feel, talking to the audience, use of water sprays, community song, use of bum showing, all of which delights the young audience. Kids love to be involved, be part of the show, keeping their constant attention, which it does for the 55 minutes.
The group go through several obstacles to reach their goal: grass, river, mud, forest, snowstorm and finally a cave. These are all creatively shown by ingenious use of everyday items like boxes, sheets, towels, buckets. The set (Katie Sykes) is simple but effective, with the lighting effects (Tony Simpson) helping to create the different locations. One can see the director, Sally Cookson, has an understanding of what fires a child’s imagination and how important ‘play’ is to them, taking them into an imaginary world.
No second is allowed for the children to lose interest, giving them something to watch and listen to constantly, organised chaos. Props are continually brought on and off, with the cast never pausing for breath, non-stop action, choreographed movement, singing and animatedly dancing. Whoever the movement / choreographer is they need to be congratulated.
The constant undercurrent of music at the beginning is somewhat irritating, intruding on the action, although it did not seem to distract the children. It is wonderful to see a packed theatre, with children outnumbering the adults. Apart from pantomimes, children’s theatre is thin on the ground, so one hopes this experience will fuel their desire to see drama.
Adapted from Michael Rosen’s picture book first published in 1989, it is fifteen years since its first UK tour but it is still as popular as ever. A firm family favourite full of music, singing and dancing to get you joining in—oh yes it will!