Stockbridge P3 review the BFG

Dec 16 2014 | By More

What the real punters think!

On Tuesday 9 December 2014, Stockbridge Primary went on a school visit to the Royal Lyceum to see its production of The BFG.

The P3 class were particularly excited. The previous week I had been to talk to them about my job. After talking a bit about being a journalist, writing reviews and running the All Edinburgh Theatre website, I asked if anyone would like to write a review.

Lewis Howden as The BFG. Photo Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

Lewis Howden as The BFG. Photo: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

The response was so immediate and positive that I invited them all to write a review of the show for publication on the website. This quickly became a class project, with the six- and seven-year-old children all writing reviews under the guidance of their teacher, Mrs Sinclair. If they had time, some drew pictures in their class jotters.

Here are the first nine reviews, from Alfie to Freddie. The rest are on the next two pages.

Alfie
✭✭✭✭✭ A fantastic fun story
The BFG is about a Big Friendly Giant who gives good dreams. Some of the characters are Mary, the Air Force and Sophie and the Army. I liked the effects because it made me feel magical and Christmassy. I didn’t like the puppets because they gave me the creeps. I liked the play better than the book because the effects looked magical and cool.

Bella
Once there was a girl called Sophie. Her parents died when she was little. Now she lives in an orphanage. Sophie was in bed. Someone told her there is such a thing called the witching hour. Sophie was in her bed and she could hear everything.
I liked the lights because they go well with the play. I like the characters because they were funny. I liked the dream plain.

Calla
✭✭✭✭✭ It was an amazing fantastic show
Once upon a time in an orphanage Sophie couldn’t get to sleep. Then a giant came over to her. He stole her. He took her to his cave. The BFG told her about the bad giants. They worked together to stop the bad giants. The bad giants got captured.
I didn’t like the puppets because I thought they were strange. I liked the bad giants because they were funny.

A snozzcumber by Chaiya

A snozzcumber by Chaiya

Chaiya
✭✭✭✭✭ Whizzbanging whizzpopping fun
The BFG is about Sophie finding a giant and going on an adventure to the giant world. First Sophie thought the BFG was going to eat her but he was not going to. He burst into laughter. After that Sophie was hungry. The BFG only had a snozzcumber. He had a fun drink that made you whizzpop. At the end the BFG saves the world. I liked the story because it had puppets instead of people. I did not like it when the BFG left Sophie because it was sad.

Cora
✭✭✭✭½ A whizzbubbling whizzpopping show!
The story of the BFG began in a house and it was Sophie’s birthday and they acted out the BFG. In the orphanage Sophie got out of bed to get some water but Mrs Oken said she had to go back to bed. She looked out of the window and saw the BFG. He picked her up and ran as fast as he could to giant country! I liked the bubbles because it felt real! I didn’t like the bit where the BFG had to go home because it was really really sad.

Emily
✭✭✭✭✭ It is a dreamtastic show
A little girl called Sophie saw the BFG at the witching hour and became friends because he does not eat children – he thinks they taste horrible. I liked the show because the bubbles were rainbow coloured. I did not like the puppets because the giants were humans and the humans were puppets.

Evie
✭✭✭✭✭ An excellent wonderful super wow-amazing show
The BFG put his hand in through the window and picked up Sophie. I liked when the teacher danced because she looked funny. I didn’t like the other giants because they were mean. The bubbles worked well because they didn’t explode. The film will be better because it talks and it has got colour.

Sophie with the BFG by Flora

Sophie with the BFG by Flora

Flora
✭✭✭✭✭ A fantastic show Boom!
A girl called Sophie was taken away by the BFG and they caught dreams together and put them into children’s heads so they have good dreams. I liked the bit when the BFG and Sophie went to the queen. It was funny because Mary fainted. She was very dramatic. I liked Sophie best because she spoke clearly nicely and loudly. What worked well was when we got to touch magic bubbles. The thing that did not work well was when they used a puppet for Sophie. I would give the BFG five stars because it made sense.

Freddie
✭✭✭✭✭ Cracking, exciting, fun and weird
At the orphanage Sophie was sleeping and a light was shining on her cover. She heard about the witching hour when everyone falls into a deep sleep and giants come out and have the night to themselves. A big hand reached in and picked up Sophie and ran and ran and ran and his steps were wide as five tennis courts and Sophie thought that the BFG was going to eat her. I liked when they did whizzbanging. I didn’t like when the giants came out. I thought they were scary.

 

Next: Click here for part two

The BFG (running time: 1 hour 40 minutes including interval)
Royal Lyceum Theatre, 30b Grindlay Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9AX
Friday 28 November – Saturday 3 January 2015
Wed-Sat 7pm; Sat: 2.00pm.
Full details and tickets on the Lyceum website: http://lyceum.org.uk/

The 27 reviews written by the P3 pupils are arranged alphabetically over three pages:

From Alfie to Freddie: P3’s BFG reviews part one;
From Grace to Millie: P3’s BFG reviews part two;
From Nicholas to Zac: P3’s BFG reviews part three.

Susan Lowes’ review for Æ is here: https://www.alledinburghtheatre.com/the-bfg-review/

Continued/….

Tags: , , , , ,

Comments (1)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

Sites That Link to this Post

  1. P5 in Wonderland : All Edinburgh Theatre.com | Dec 22 2016