This afternoon we went to see some fab children’s theatre, Little Angel’s interpretation of Goldilocks at Lakeside Arts in Nottingham.  The story is told with song and puppets. It was an excellent reminder for me of why I take my kids to the theatre, and why children’s theatre matters.

I became really aware this afternoon of a gulf in how my two view what they see.  My son is 3 and still inhales theatre on a very sensory level, it makes him smile and chuckle and belly laugh like nothing else. Those moments in theatre happen to me as an adult too, but as adults I think we find it much harder to turn our analytical brain off. That’s why I love watching him watching theatre.

Something about the way the wooden bear puppets played with their toy cars, the way they danced and the way the performers made them behave, really tickled him.  He wasn’t alone, the boy in the seat in front cried when the bears left at the end of the show and could only be coerced to leave the theatre by the promise of meeting one of them as they waved the children goodbye at the exit.

My ponderings on whether furry bear puppets would have been more magical were quickly dismissed, there’s no need to patronise children’s ability to imagine, as children’s theatre of this calibre recognises. Children are forever creating stories out of whatever they have to hand. My son clambered up on his chair as baby bear escaped to the back of the auditorium and chatted away confidently to him as a performer brought him past our row of seats.  There was none of the fear of puppets children often experience from any of the children in the audience. They completely believed in the bears.

My son bobbed along to the music, a mix of blues and soul inspired songs sung beautifully by the two performers. He even tugged at my husband’s arm to nod and smile his approval.

My daughter is five and becoming aware of theatre on a new level.  That’s both a little bit sad, in that she’s not spellbound in the childlike way the 3yo is, but she’s fascinated in the mechanics, which I love.  She’s becoming aware of set ‘I think those boxes are the bears house’, scene changes ‘Is it an advert Mummy?’ (*cringe*), interpretations ‘It isn’t told like the usual story’ and conventions ‘Is the puppet Goldilocks?’

I heard several older children asking where Goldilocks was, expecting the fair skinned, human, golden haired version rather than a dark skinned puppet with jet black plaits threaded with gold; I really liked the way the performance effortlessly challenged these perceptions of race and representation with such a young audience. The piece is rich with a range of multicultural influences from costume, to music, to set, to characterisation.

Little Angel theatre are based in London and are one of only 3 building based theatre companies in England to specialise in puppetry. As well as performances in their Islington theatre they have up to 3 shows touring the country at once, click on the link if you want to find a Little Angel show near you.  Goldilocks is continuing its tour around the UK.

I love theatre because it communicates on so many levels, many of them subconcious.  I love theatre because it’s live, and it’s shared by a group of people.  I’m not religious but theatre is one of the ways I instill a sense of ceremony, ritual and spirituality in my children, as humans have been doing for thousands of years.  Oh and afterwards you can’t beat a hot chocolate, a cake, a walk and a play in Highfields Park, the stunning grounds of Nottingham University.

Disclosure  - I’m parent blogger in residence at Lakeside Arts and received tickets in exchange for my impartial review of this production.