We had a lovely morning at Norden Farm Centre for the Arts watching a beautiful production of Nick Butterworth’s classic tale One Snowy Night. This adaptation of the book was just perfectly done and very festive.
Percy the Park Keeper came onto stage explaining all the jobs that must be done during the winter in his park. He sang a song about what clothes he must wear to keep warm, which was really useful to remind my son about when he wouldn’t put his gloves on later! Then Percy prunes bushes and sweeps up leaves and litter (again another conversation starter later!).
The songs were funny for both children and adults, and got little hands and feet tapping away. Percy is joined on stage with two puppeteers, who were excellent performers and singers. Percy has a chat with his bird friends who are after his sandwich so he gives them some bird feed and explains he always feeds the animals in winter.
Snow magically starts to fall on Percy, and the cleverly designed set turns from outside parkland to the inside of Percy’s hut. Percy goes to bed with a hot drink to keep warm but then he hears a knock at the door. It’s squirrel, who is very cold and needs a warm place to sleep. Of course Percy lets her in to stay. But then there is another knock, this time its two very funny rabbits. The animals continue to knock, including a fox, a badger, ducks, and mice, until Percy’s bed cannot fit them all and they all fall out. But then there is a mysterious sound under the hut, they are all scared and scuttle off to find different places in hide around Percy’s hut. It turns out to be a little mole who is also frozen and needs a place to sleep. It was very clever how the puppeteers switched from one animal to the other, so smoothly done. Now that everyone had found a place to sleep Percy reads the animals a story.
This is an ideal production to introduce the theatre to young children. It is aimed at children aged 3-6 years. My son is 2.5 and he was just fascinated by it. It is based on material that children can relate to. The pace of the show was gentle and easy to follow. The run time is 50 minutes, which is just perfect for this age. Norden Farm Centre for the Arts is an ideal size theatre, not too big to be overwhelming for children. There is free parking and a café serving a fantastic menu. They do hot and cold dishes and a children’s selection.
Find all the best festive children’s theatre shows and pantos in Berkshire.
