The Tiger Who Came to Tea (tour – Norwich Playhouse)
Putting a much-loved picture story-book
for the under-fives on stage is a tricky business. It’s an age-group
for which what is seen is often more important than what is heard. Of
course, you can’t teach David Wood anything new about making words
and pictures three-dimensional, as the current tour of Judith
Kerr‘s story of The Tiger Who Came to Tea amply
demonstrates.
she’s created something which echoes Kerr’s illustrations, adds in
some very good touches (Scott Penrose‘s fridge is particularly
effective) and costumes which define their wearers. The tiger sports
one of the best “skins” which I’ve seen for a long time and
Matthew Dudley summons up a correctly feline as well as
anthropomorphic repertoire of animal stalks and courtly gestures.
Dudley also doubles the slightly
distracted father of of Abigail Lumb‘s smart little Sophie and the
visiting milkman and postman. Jenanne Redman is the wife and mother
who keeps her family – well, she tries to – on an even keel. The
opening number “A story is a book” is a gentle way of
ensuring that children grasp that there’s more than one way to tell a
tale.
Children notoriously have a very short
attention span and are easily distracted, even in a darkened
auditorium. That throughout the youngsters were riveted by the
action, thoroughly enjoyed the tiger’s greed, accepted the mime
convention of the impromptu car trip to a café (the tiger having
eaten the cupboard bare) by the hungry family and cheerfully stayed
watching until the end is probably the best recommendation a
children’s show could have.
