The Gruffalo with the Royal Northern Sinfonia

Photo credit: Orange Eyes Ltd 2009

 
The Gruffalo (and it's sequel, The Gruffalo's Child) has won a special place in many a child's heart over the last 15 years, and for good reason. It tells the tale of a brave little mouse who, when faced with predators such as an owl, fox and snake, cleverly invents a monster who he will soon be meeting for a meal in order to scare them away. Little does he know that the Gruffalo is, in fact, real...

There have been many stage adaptations of the book in recent years, along with animated films of both books, and I can't wait to take S along to this event at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in October. Both films will be screened on a big screen, with the music performed live by the Royal Northern Sinfonia. The acoustics are wonderful at the Hall and it looks like a great way to introduce children to live orchestral music.

There will also be free family activities in the foyer from 12pm.

The event takes place on Thursday 30th October and tickets are available now.

Pip-pip onk-onk!

On Monday, we took S to see In the Night Garden Live at the Trafford Centre in Manchester. I had, up until around a week before the show, been considering selling my tickets on as I really couldn't imagine my active, boisterous, yet at times very shy little boy sitting still for an hour. However I'm so glad we took him along as I could never have imagined how mesmerised he would be by the whole experience.

The show took place in a specially constructed inflatable Showdome, with buggy parking, microwaves and plenty of baby changing facilities - as soon as we arrived we knew that people were running the show who completely understood how it can be taking a child anywhere new; this was incredibly reassuring.

The ticket price included a free programme which took a little of the sting away from the ticket price - although S was a little bit young to appreciate the content, it's something we can put away for him to enjoy in the future.

We sat down in the Showdome with 20 minutes to spare before the show started, we were a little worried about this as S doesn't like sitting still but there was plenty of room for him to explore, and better still he was allowed to! Up and down the stairs, round and round the room, and lots of other friendly children to say "HIYA!" to. As soon as the opening music began however, he sat on our knees and watched intently, clapping and shouting away.

All the main characters from the TV show were present, along with some fantastic puppeteers. Perspective was played with brilliantly as Makka Pakka grew and shrunk depending on which characters he was interacting with. We attended the Pinky Ponk show where Makka Pakka washed the characters' faces; there is also a Ninky Nonk show which I believe involves Igglepiggle losing his blanket. The stories aren't going to win any Booker prizes but the children absolutely loved watching Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, the Tombliboos, the Pontipines and of course Makka Pakka getting up to all the usual tricks they see on television.

It's definitely worth a visit - we can't wait until next year!