Dinosaur World Live at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre – review

Returning to the Open Air Theatre after an absence of five years, this puppet-based extravaganza offers young audiences the chance to encounter some stars of the Jurassic age, alongside a few lesser-known support acts (if there’s one thing you learn as a parent of a dino-obsessed toddler, it’s that there are way more dinosaur types than you remember).

Our guide is Miranda (Selin Balcioğu), a 20-something adventurer whose parents took her to a mythical dinosaur island when she was little, and now they’ve all returned to introduce some of the animals they encountered. That’s pretty much it as far as plot goes, and soon the ‘oohs’, ‘aahs’ and ‘roars’ begin thanks to Juliet, a fluffy vegetarian segnosaurus. A willing young attendee is invited up to feed it some foliage, and there’s some mild banter about his tree impression being so good that Juliet tries to eat him too.

Miranda repeats a similar formula with Orlando, an airborn microraptor, Brutus the triceratops (and his baby Beatrice) and Titus the T-rex, who she tells us is supposed to be kept backstage after an unfortunate incident in Scarborough. All are impressively made by designer Max Humphries, and skilfully manipulated by the five-strong puppeteer team (Sharon Sze, William Uden, Nicholas Halliwell, Rhea Locker-Marsh and Ross Lennon), who also provide some eerily plausible sound effects. There’s also a touching egg-hatching scene (spoiler alert!) to round off proceedings, accompanied by Tom Mann’s stirring soundscape.

Writer/director Derek Bond keeps the script pretty serviceable in order to make sure the dinosaur encounters take centre stage, though there are a few bon mots for those who seek them out (such as Miranda’s reference to the complete works of Shakespeare having been among the books on dinosaur island). I found the cutesy anthropomorphism of the dinos a little wearisome, but this could be more a reflection of my decade-long exposure to the world of preschool TV.

Although it feels simplistic story-wise – the follow-up Dragons and Mythical Beasts was a smidge more sophisticated – there can be little argument it delivers what it promises on the spectacle side, and it works surprisingly well on the vaudevillian set of La Cage aux Folles (it’s a shame we don’t get a rousing raptor chorus of “I Am What I Am”). The relaxed approach to audience etiquette (photos are encouraged, as long as they’re tagged on socials), also means parents can take it easy on the shushing and guiltlessly crack out the snacks. Just be careful they don’t get gobbled by a T-rex.