the stick man – review

stick man lives in the family tree

with his stick lady love

and their stick children three…

an intro to a book we have read many many times, and am pretty confident we will read many many times more still. julia donaldson and axel scheffler created this master piece, you may recognise their names from the gruffalo stories too. however this is not a review of the book, oh no, this is for the live show that has been very cleverly adapted from the book by the rather clever and wonderful people from the award wining scamp theatre.

we approached the day with a little caution, it was like the anxiousness you get when your favourite book is turned into a film. would this ruining everything forever? or would it seal the place in hearts for good.

well we need not have been worried and i’m please to say the guys at scamp theatre have done good, they have done very good, it was absolutely brilliant. well of course it was, why did i doubt it, it has indeed returned to london leicester square theatre for the fourth consecutive season, and that alone speak volumes.

stick man

the timing of the show is great, running just short of an hour, which is not too long, and therefore the smalls don’t start to get distracted or wriggle too much.

right from the very start you are captivated but this adaptation. it only features three actors playing a host of characters, with one being a one man band too, they have your attention from start to finish with this truly magical and energised performance making sure all leave with a slight ache from the big belly laughs and humming along to their catchy songs.

stick man

stick man

the scamp theatre was founded in 2003 by award-winning producers jennifer sutherland and louise callow, and brings a range of theatrical live performance to audiences of all ages, with an increased focus on adaptation, particularly in children’s literature.

‘I love how Scamp scamper through my stories, transporting them from page to stage so faithfully and innovatively.’

JULIA DONALDSON

the london cast were superb, stick lady love, cassie vallance, was our favourite, her facial expressions are worth the ticket price itself! richard kiess plays the stick man, absolutely perfect for the role and alex tosh who plays various roles and is the shows one man band was superb.

the show is directed by sally cookson, designed by katie sykes, lit by elanor higgins and the wonderful music compposed by benji bower.

together they make the most wonderful team and present to you the most wonderful show, the HPMcQs highly recommend you include a trip to the theatre in your diary this christmas.

stick man

the show runs at the leicester square theatre from saturday 8th november all the way up to christmas and beyond until sunday 4th january 2015.

performances are at 10.30am wednesday – sundays with additional show at 12.15pm and 2pm on a saturday and sunday. there will be additional christmas performance, you should contact the box office for these dates.

tickets are from £12-£19 and family ticket £50-£60

you can call the box office on 08448 733433

or book on-line www.leicestersquaretheatre.com

go on you won’t be disappointed

you can read another bloggers review here by the rather lovely me and my shadow

disclosure : as i said in the introduction we were given family tickets to see the stick man for the purpose of a review. our opinions are our own and we have been completely honest, i’m sure you will agree.

Comments

  1. November 19, 2014 / 17:59

    We thought this was a fabulous show too. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Great review!

  2. November 19, 2014 / 19:06

    We love this book, it is read next to The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’ Child. I’m gutted that we won’t be able to catch these showings of The Stick Man.

  3. November 19, 2014 / 19:12

    It looks absolutely adorable! We love the book, not sure if Syd is ready to sit still yet, but if it comes near us I will chance it!

  4. November 19, 2014 / 19:39

    That looks amazing! We have ‘mislaid’ our Stick Man book but it was a favourite like all of the other Julia Donaldson books. Sadly this play is too far away from us at the moment but i would love to take A to see it as she would love it. Great review

  5. November 19, 2014 / 20:32

    Great review. Sounds like they did a fantastic job, must be really hard to follow the book. And only 4 people too. Glad you all enjoyed it.

  6. November 20, 2014 / 09:57

    The Stick Man is my favourite book ever, I might have to book this.

  7. November 20, 2014 / 12:43

    This looks like an amazing show – I’ve heard nothing but good things about it!

  8. November 20, 2014 / 13:28

    These guys do such a good job don’t they? Really clever to put a book like that into a show, but I’m glad they have – such a fabulous book 🙂

  9. November 21, 2014 / 09:16

    How fab, I love taking the children to the theatre and think it is so important for them to experience it in all it’s glory.

  10. November 25, 2014 / 08:46

    Lovely review – I stumbled across this just before we headed to see it on Saturday! And, your right it was brilliant! such great show! And a a great price too… x