Yesterday we had an open air theatre experience in Regent’s Park. Florence was completely shocked that we were sitting outside and kept saying ‘I thought it would be inside Mummy’! She is of course a very seasoned theatre goer; last month I even took her to see Wicked in the evening for my birthday and she loved it! I wonder if she might be the only three-year-old to have that experience, she’s certainly in the minority! Florence is a girl after my own heart and just enjoys live performance so I was thrilled to be able to take her to something else new in London!
Erths Dinosaur Zoo is showing at regents park from now until 7th September and we thought it was utterly amazing! Recommended for ages 3 and up I had expected Jimmy to be a little bored and wanting to run around but even he sat absolutely mesmerised by the puppets on display!
There’s no storyline to this show, its fact all the way but that’s not to say the entertainment value is any less. Educational entertainment at its very best I would say! Learning about Australian dinos from Lindsey Chaplin, the bush ranger, is very entertaining indeed! She’s funny, holds the audience in the palm of her hand and certainly knows her stuff! She introduces us to baby dinosaurs and makes her way up through scarier and more ferocious beasts as the show goes on! I love that there’s much audience participation and some children are even invited up onto the stage to take part in the performance.
Some of it was quite frightening, even when you know what you are seeing is just very good puppets! Not so frightening that Florence didn’t want to be there but enough to make her scream out loud along with most of the audience! When you come face to face with Australovenator, a more recently discovered carnivorous dinosaur who was only found in Queensland in 2006 it’s kind of hard not to scream! Apparently he is even more ferocious than T Rex and with his giant claws used to rip apart his prey rather than Rex’s silly little flappy things, he is far more frightening! I’ll say… Imagine our surprise when THIS popped up literally behind our head as he made his way, roaring, to the stage!
We thought the show was great, very clever and at 50 minutes, just the right length! You get to meet Australovenator after the show as he comes outside for a bit more roaring and the children, all screaming, can’t help going back for more! The sound effects, puppetry and delivery were just right. Florence loved it, I could see older children soaking it all in and as I said, even the babies were in awe of the visuals! Definitely worth a watch before the run finishes on September 7th 2013 and the theatre is amazing! Make a day of it and spend time sitting in the lovely gardens with a picnic!
I have not been paid to write this post but I was provided complimentary tickets for the purpose of review.
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