Last weekend we were very kindly invited to Warwick Arts Centre at Warwick University to review the performance of ‘The Gruffalo‘ by the internationally recognised theatre company, Tall Stories.

The show is based on the very well loved book by Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler and has always been a firm favourite in our houses so we jumped at the chance to go.

It is the latest production from Tall Stories at Warwick Arts Centre but has been around different theatres for many years.

In this much-loved tale, a little mouse walks through the woods and encounters a fox, an owl and a snake. To fend them off, he tells each about the scary Gruffalo - but when the mouse actually encounters the Gruffalo himself, he cleverly invents another tale and manages to escape from danger yet again.

Searching for hazelnuts, Mouse meets the cunning Fox, the eccentric old Owl and the high-spirited Snake.

Clever Storytelling

The show has a small cast of only three people who were absolutely fantastic from start to finish.

Each of the actors took on different roles throughout the play and used puppetry and clever costumes and accessories to interpret the different animals in the woods.

The cast were bursting with energy throughout with Snake creating lots of laughs through clever and witty jokes.

The show has all the well known phrases from the book which the younger members of the audience loved joining in with along with very catchy, repetitive songs thrown in. There were some quick one liners for the grown ups in the audience too.

The story ended with the Gruffalo appearing and an auditorium full of excitement.

So many parts made the show a huge success but the audience participation parts were great, along with the catchy songs and jokes that made all ages laugh. The Gruffalo running through the audience had everyone up on their feet.

The whole production was very engaging and we all absolutely loved it. We would 100% recommend going to see it if you have any Gruffalo fans. We can’t wait to see another Tall Stories production.

The Venue

When we got to the theatre we were greeted by helpful staff who directed us to our seats. Booster seats were available for smaller guests.

Drinks and snacks were also available to purchase from the bar in the foyer area.

Seating is staggered throughout the auditorium so you get a great view wherever you sit.

The show lasted an hour (with no interval) so is prefect for little people.

Tickets

The Gruffalo by Tall Stories in on at Warwick Arts Centre until Sunday 31st December 2023.

It is aimed at age 3+ years. We took our oldest and youngest team members (8 & 3) and they really enjoyed it. There were lots of younger children there.

Click Here to find tickets.

Warwick Arts Centre kindly gifted us tickets in return for an honest review. They have no involvement in the review written and all opinions are my own.