Shaun the Sheep – Shaun’s Big Show (Tour – Salford)
Shaun’s Big Show is based on the hit Aardman show- Shaun the Sheep – aimed at little lambs – yet this excellent stage show has something for everyone – regardless of age. Unlike the incredibly boring stage productions of the likes of Lazy Town and many other TV spin offs, Shaun’s Big Show approaches the concept of children’s theatre with originality and panache. The producers are very aware of how dull these shows can be for adults and they have made a fast paced, hilarious production which ticks all the boxes for us, too.
The show features dance pieces mainly and I am sure that youngsters and their older guests will allow for the fact that there is not much of a narrative. Bill Dreamer‘s inventive and side-splitting choreography means that time simply flies by and there will nobody in the audience counting sheep. Like the wonderful Wallace & Gromit, spoofs and homages are the order of the day.
Everything from Dirty Dancing (featuring a plump female sheep who needs three Patrick Swayzes to lift her up), Riverdance (which comes completely out of the blue and makes the audience chuckle) and Saturday Night Fever (Burn Baby Burn, there’s a “Disco Inferno”) are lampooned featuring these mischevious woolly creatures and the result is quite surreal and incredibly funny.
A group of pigs dance to Village People dressed in leather and by this stage, I could not contain myself. But there are also some very clever skits of Stomp (complete with farmyard objects) and Swan Lake – which could be retitled Sheep Lake. The funny bone is constantly being prodded and all of these sketches hit their required target – with ease.
The entire cast are excellent – donned in very hot costumes – yet constantly playing to the audience and dancing up a storm to Dreamer’s spot on movement. Susie Calcutt‘s set design evokes the feel of a farm; but also Shaun’s crazy and funny world with ease.
The wonderful adaptor David Wood has an excellent track record with the works of Roald Dahl and he has done it again because this brilliant production has wide appeal and never forgets the over fives.
With nods and winks to Singin In The Rain and Carmen thrown in for good measure and so much laughter – Shaun the Sheep’s Big Show is a five baaaaa success.
