Fun show for all the family

A Mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood. Luis and I went to see The Gruffalo at the Palace Theatre, Newark, and the show was good.

We joined mouse on an adventurous journey through the deep dark wood in this musical adaptation of the classic picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

On his travels mouse met three very hungry predators — a wheeler-dealer fox, an eccentric old owl and a maraca-shaking Mexican rattlesnake.

Each time mouse managed to outwit his enemies with tales of his monstrous friend, The Gruffalo, a gruesome creature created in his imagination.

As the production included the narration of the original story, the famous catchline: “Didn’t they know, there’s no such thing as a Gruffalo” along with many others echoed round the theatre, called out by the children and their parents.

In addition there were a number of catchy songs, including G-G-G-Gruffalo which was performed when we finally got to meet the monster himself.

This was an excellent way of providing calm and laughter to what could have been quite a scary moment for a young audience.

The Gruffalo proved to be a very energetic, captivating and creative production.

This was made even more special by the fact there were only three cast members playing all the parts.

The proof of such a terrific show is that my son sang G-G-G-Gruffalo all the way home, which for a two-year-old is a very impressive result — LS.