The Very Hungry Caterpillar story book, by author/illustrator Eric Carle has delighted generations of readers since it was first published in 1969 selling more than forty three million copies worldwide. Eric Carle is an internationally bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator of books for very young children. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Barbara. The Carles opened The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Massachusetts in 2002. It is a museum devoted to the art of the picture book and especially children’s books.
Eric’s well-known books have captivated young readers with his iconic colourful hand-painted tissue paper collage illustrations and distinctively simple stories, introducing generations of children to a bigger, brighter world and to their first experience of reading itself. The timeless classic which I remember reading to my children nearly forty years ago has made its way off the page and onto the stage.
I took my three year old grandson to the show and he loved every minute of it. He was entranced by the puppets which were cleverly manipulated by four actors/ puppeteers dressed in white. They also related the stories and spoke in character as the puppets themselves. The show, created by Jonathan Rockefeller, features a menagerie of lovable puppets, faithfully adapting four of Eric Carle’s stories, ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear’, ‘10 Little Rubber Ducks’,’ The Very Lonely Firefly’ and of course, the star of the show celebrating its 50th Birthday in 2019 ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.
The show lasted approximately one hour which was just long enough for a three year old to sit through. The puppets are not hand puppets but are manipulated by the actors/puppeteers who walk and run along with them and the results are very life-like actions by multi-coloured puppets such as dogs, a cat, a frog, a flamingo, a turtle, a pelican, an owl, a bear, a black sheep and many more. They were fun animals which the children could relate to. Additionally, some of the puppets are wooden characters which are attached to long sticks which the puppeteers manipulate so that they are up high in the air or circling the other puppets.
The actors kept everyone engaged with facial expressions and smiles and there were interactive parts where they allowed the audience to fill in the words which my grandson enjoyed doing. The puppets were really cool-looking and true to how they appear in the books. The children had great fun joining in with guessing colours and guessing animal names during all the stories and especially shouting out "But he was still hungry!" along with everyone in the audience at the end of The Very Hungry Caterpillar story.
Relating the tale of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle takes the concept of metamorphosis and presents it in a way which young children can understand. He draws his audience in with an adorable caterpillar that eats everything, including pizza, sausages, cupcakes and lollipops. What child can't relate to the caterpillar's plight, i.e. indulging in his favourite foods resulting in getting a stomach ache? As the new-born caterpillar snacks through the foods (leaving behind a hole to stick his face through), he gets bigger, fatter, and eventually turns into a lovely butterfly with wings the colour of Swiss cheese, oranges, and cherry pie! Carle brings humour to the development of the caterpillar, one of the first science miracles a child can learn. It was a fun subject to talk about with my grandson who could relate to the caterpillar’s greediness and the outcome of having a painful tummy ache.
All four stories were executed effortlessly and with accomplished presenting skills which kept the children fully absorbed and entertained using a very sparse set painted white. The vivid colours of the props and performing skills of the puppeteers brought the stage alive. It was simplistic but very charming and hopefully my grandson will remember the special day he saw the transformation of a caterpillar, to a cocoon, to a beautiful butterfly.
Reviewer - Anne Pritchard
on - 19/5/19
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