My nearly 4 year old grandson was so excited to be told I was to review 'Dear Zoo: Live On Stage' at the Epstein Theatre and couldn’t wait for the big day. For those unfamiliar with Dear Zoo, it is a delightful children's book written and illustrated by Rod Campbell. Now celebrating 37 years, Dear Zoo first published in 1982, is the story of a young boy, Ben who writes to the zoo asking for a pet and is sent an assortment of inappropriate animals who aren't quite suitable as a family pet and an array of interesting crates arrive and are one-by-one rejected by Ben. This production will delight all those who have read the book or not, as it utilises child-engaging puppets, music and child-appropriate audience interaction in its 55 minute production. With the use of minimal brightly coloured props and scenery on stage, the small cast of three, who sang, danced and read on stage interacted with the assortment of animal puppets and kept the young onlookers' attention with plenty of audience participation.
My grandson waved, clapped and made lots of animal noises throughout (encouraged by me) along with the other youngsters who cheered as each animal puppet was uncovered from their respective crates and waved them goodbye as they were taken back to the zoo.
It was a full house at the Epstein theatre, with children who looked as young as 12 months old to others who were a lot older. The show is advertised as being suitable for 2-6 year olds but I think it is more appropriate for 2-4 year olds. There is a lot of repetition of phrases and noises, which is ideal for children of pre-school age. Children settled into their seats clutching Dear Zoo books but having to read the book beforehand is not a requisite as it is a simple tale told age-appropriately with lots of interaction for youngsters. It is a happy and engaging show more suitable for pre-school children and fittingly there was no interval and the show lasted just under an hour.
The set and costumes were depicted as those straight from the book and whilst this succeeded in creating a familiar environment for the young audience, I felt it could have been stretched a bit more as it was fairly basic in its reproduction with painted hedges, flower cut outs, a watering can, a bucket and a chair on stage. Puppetry was used for some of the animals such as the snake, which surprisingly was my grandson’s favourite and the puppy which Ben eventually kept as a pet, whilst painted plywood 2D cut-outs were used for the elephant, the lion and the camel. Actors in animal costumes portrayed the jumping frog, and the naughty monkey, both energetically jumping around the stage being mischievous. Each animal was brought onto the stage successively in its crate and the children were asked to guess which animal it could be. The script, written by Dear Zoo’s original writer and illustrator Rod Campbell, is also faithful to the book, filling out its plot with somewhat sluggishly written songs for the animals and adolescent chitchat by its three human characters. Unfortunately there’s not a flash of drama to be had. Sam the Zoo Keeper, Ben, the boy who wants a pet, and Sally, his friend, are engaging enough to get the children out of their seats for a few moments of gentle audience interaction but all three performances are unfortunately unvarying in tone or emphasis. The director seems to be under the outdated opinion that children should be spoken to very loudly and very shrilly if they’re to understand anything that’s going on, a rather old fashioned conception. The voice-over faithfully follows the book's text, and is somewhat comforting for very little listeners aged 1-2 years but the repetitive nature of the performance appealed only to the younger aged members of the audience, I don’t think 5 or 6 year olds would have appreciated it. The portrayal of the voices of the animals was rather lethargic and out-dated and needs some updating by writer Rod Campbell and producers Norwell Lapley Productions Ltd.
Nevertheless the children seemed to enjoy the gentle tale and the silliness of the story but it was far removed from the Marvel superheroes and villains such as Spiderman, which youngsters are very much into these days.
The Dear Zoo book has sold over eight million copies worldwide and very young children enjoy lifting the flaps to discover the animals the zoo has sent as the story unfolds and I’m sure they will continue to delight in it but I think young audiences deserve more than what was on offer in this live show especially if it is aimed at 2-6 year olds. In these days of techno wizardry children expect more and anticipate more thrills and excitement than this production created.
Reviewer - Anne Pritchard
on - 17/11/19
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