Writer: Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

Music and lyrics: John Fiber, Olivia Jacobs, Robin Price and Andy Shaw

Adaptor: Olivia Jacobs and Toby Mitchell

Director: Toby Mitchell

Reviewer: Laura Wilson

The Public Reviews Rating:

As a big kid at heart, I must admit to being secretly excited at the prospect of seeing The Gruffalo. I hadn’t read the story but any book that can push “The very hungry caterpillar” into third place and “Winnie the Pooh” into second, in a recent BBC 2 poll on the nations favourite bedtime story must be good!

Following a sell-out success in the West End, The Gruffalo returned to The Lyric theatre, The Lowry for only three days.
When I arrived in the theatre I was amongst a large group of 0-6 year olds scuttling to their seats, obviously excited about the possibility of seeing the Gruffalo, even though everyone knows “there’s no such thing as a gruffalo”. Each of them were able to recite many lines from the play, the popularity of this simple tale was evident from the outset.

The Gruffalo tells the story of Mouse as she embarks on a journey into the woods. On her adventure she comes across various predators, being able to deter each of them with a vivid description of the Grufallo, helped along by the audience, parents included! Can you imagine what would happen if this great big, scary beast, the Gruffalo did appear???

A 3 strong cast were able to bring this magical story to life and engage each member of the audience young and old through energy, song and dance. Mouse, played by Alex Tregear gave a highly animated and energetic performance as the plays main protagonist. Her highly visual movement and obvious dance training kept the eye of the audience. The story teller and Gruffalo were played by Scott Armstrong, Armstrong’s interpretation of the storyteller seemed at times a little over the top, however his depiction of the Gruffalo was extremely good bringing the fictional character to life for hundreds of adoring fans. David Garrud, playing all of the predators was highly imaginative delivering each part with a comic humour that both children and adults could behold. His performance of the snake stole the show.

The set for the show, designed by Isla Wood, was simple yet satisfying, brought to life by the magical lighting designed by James Whiteside taking the audience from the safety of a tranquil forest to the danger of a potentially deadly wood. Both the set and the sound effects of birds tweeting as I walked into the theatre, led me to immediately feel part of the show. The set was used by the cast, with two moveable trees often playing a pivotal role in keeping the audience on it’s toes.

The music plays a pivotal role in the development of this adaptation. Although the songs used computer generated backing tracks (it would have been good to have had either live or recorded musicians), they were catchy numbers and were repeated throughout the play so the audience could sing along and once again feel part of the action. The songs draw on influences as diverse as the musical traditions of Latin America and the Ska work of groups such as ‘The Specials’. At times some of the harmony work in the songs did fall a little short, however the energy and vigour displayed by the performers overcame this.

The Gruffalo certainly did not disappoint the young fans, who got involved at every opportunity. They scared the fox, danced with the rattlesnake and shouted out all of the famous lines along with the mouse.

A definite must see for youngsters (and the not so young) who hold this book dear to their hearts.

Runs until the 8th of April.

The Gruffalo -The Lowry Theatre, Salford, 3.5 out of 5 based on 15 ratings

Tags: Alex Tregear, David Garrud, Family, Isla Shaw, James Whiteside, Olivia Jacobs, Scott Armstrong, The Gruffalo, Toby Mitchell