Review: Peppa Pig’s Treasure Hunt, Barbican (From York Press)

Review: Peppa Pig’s Treasure Hunt, Barbican

11:46am Tuesday 8th May 2012 in Theatre By Nadia Jefferson-Brown, nadia.jefferson-brown@thepress.co.uk

Within minutes of starting, this upbeat family show easily won over its excited young audience, who were quick to laugh and needed little encouragement to play along with the ever-smiling cast, join in the choruses, copy the actions or happily laugh out loud at the characters’ antics.

The show features the oddly-shaped pink pig Peppa, her younger brother George and other animal friends from the hit television show which has received a minimal, no-frills theatrical makeover for its stage tour.

We felt our trip to see Peppa at the Barbican was a good introduction to the theatre for our children, aged two and five, who were already familiar with the characters. There were no unpleasant surprises, the toe-tapping tunes used were infectious pre-school classics, and importantly, the show was just the right length of time for young ones with short attention spans.

It was predictable, harmless fun featuring simple but effective enough props – some sadly in need of fresh paint though – and hand-held puppets operated by actors, who were dressed in black but in full view of the audience. Thankfully, I’d been forewarned about this, but was still quite disappointed not to see full-sized costumed characters, although my children didn’t seem to mind.

Highlights for us included George’s torrent of tears spraying the front few rows of the audience, along with a scene featuring glow-in-the-dark sea creatures swaying and dancing across the stage. My youngest was mesmerised throughout and his bottom lip protruded somewhat when it all ended.