I’m sure I’ve written before about the special place in my heart reserved for mac (Midlands Arts Centre). It was where I worked my first arts job after graduating, and I spent a very happy year there – even if the commute killed off two cars (the stop/start traffic through Kings Heath is not kind on old knackered bangers). They have some of the best family programming in the region, and it’s always a delight to visit the arts centre as a family.
This week, we bundled up warm and braved the traffic to watch one of mac’s two children’s Christmas offering’s this season: Little Angel Theatre’s Sleepyhead. After loving Little Angel Theatre’s Me last year, I knew we’d be in for a treat and I wasn’t wrong. Sleepyhead follows the night-time antics of Baby, who successfully brushes off all of Dada’s attempts to get them to sleep and has a magical midnight adventure instead.
Mix in some magic, a pinch of circus and a large dollop of silliness and you have the recipe for a little adventure with a lot of laughs!
Little Angel Theatre’s productions are masterclasses of puppeteering, with each little detail carefully contributing to gorgeously realistic movement: a perfect example is the small up-and-down movement of Baby, curled up hiding on the carpet, the talented performer quite literally breathing life into the performance. It’s these details that create characters everyone in the audience could relate to – the parents laughing along at the baby’s antics and seeing themselves reflected in the playful bumblings of Dada. I’m sure I speak on behalf of most parents whose children struggle to get to sleep that seeing Dada try all his tricks (magical or not!) raised a chuckle or two of recognition. As different as all our parenting styles are, there are some things that I’m sure we all do from time to time… and falling asleep whilst putting our children to sleep must be one of those parenting levellers, a real rite of passage.
This playful production kept Pickle captivated throughout (without me having to resort to snacks to keep him sat still – which says a lot). I hope I always remember how lovely it was to snuggle up to each other whilst sat on the front row. It was beautiful to hear him properly giggling at the action, finding such joy in the slapstick humour. It’s been quite a few months since his last theatre visit, and his speech has come on such a long way during that time. I absolutely loved chatting to him about the show afterwards – he loved reminding me that the Baby did a big poo (!!!), and he babbled away telling Little Pickle’s Dad all about how the Baby wanted cake and thought carrots were ‘yak’ once we got home.
The production is aimed at 2-5 year olds, and our audience certainly had children from both ends of that range – with giggles and squeals of delight coming from them all! We had a lovely school group in our performance which really added to an excited and energetic atmosphere which I’m sure also helped contribute towards the merriment. I’d wholeheartedly recommend Sleepyhead, and strongly encourage you to book tickets if you’re looking for a special pre-Christmas family treat.
Sleepyhead runs at mac Birmingham until Sun 2 December 2018, with two performances a day (one in the morning, and one in the afternoon to help you choose whichever best fits in with naptime!). There is also a relaxed performance on Friday 30 November 2018, with BSL interpretation. Tickets cost from £9.50, and in my opinion, are worth every single penny. For more information and to book tickets, take a look at the mac Birmingham website.
Disclaimer: we were invited to this production of Sleepyhead for press review purposes. All opinions and views remain my own.