Gruffalos, Ladybirds and Other Beasts – Junior Review
✭✭✭✭✭ Hilarious and very exciting
Junior review by Cora Dibdin
Udderbelly – Underbelly, George Square (Venue 300): Sat 8 – Mon 31 Aug 2015
This show had the real Julia Donaldson. She brought her husband Malcolm and sister Mary and there were two other people, James and Joanna.
We have seen Julia Donaldson before at the Book Festival acting out some of her stories.
Julia Donaldson and her creations. Publicity image
The set was a library and on the top shelves were Julia Donaldson books. They told the stories Jack and the flumflum tree, What the ladybird heard, A squash and a squeeze, Zog and The Gruffalo, and sang some songs. When they introduced each story they said “By Julia Donaldson” – it was funny.
It was acting, not puppets. Children went up on stage. There was singing, music – and rhyming of course because all Julia Donaldson books rhyme.
The story I liked best was The Gruffalo. I liked how one of the people on stage was scared of the Gruffalo and ran away but I think she was actually in the Gruffalo suit.
special music
The bit I most liked in What the ladybird heard was the map of the plan how they were going to steal the fine prize cow. But they could have made it better. In A Squash and a squeeze they had a small picture of a house and put it in the library.
In Zog they put on special music when they were flying through the sky and that gave a good effect to it. In Jack and the flumflum tree I liked when the monkey was doing the beat on the tom tom drum.
People of all ages including grannies and teenagers would enjoy this. You can go with no mind of what’s going to happen at all.
Running time 1 hour
Udderbelly – Underbelly, George Square (Venue 300), George Square, EH8 9LH
Saturday 8 – Monday 31 August 2015 (not 19)
Daily 11.30 am (not Wed 19)
Book tickets on the EdFringe website: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/gruffalos-ladybirds-and-other-beasts-with-julia-donaldson
Julia Donaldson’s website: http://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/
ENDS
