Don’t leave the kids at home! If the bright lights of the stage are calling this Easter holiday, Greenwich Theatre has your whole brood covered. Its bumper Kids’ Fest programme offers something for all little minds, from fairy tale enthusiasts to budding scientists. With gripping stories, enchanting characters and puppets galore, here’s a breakdown of what’s showing and when.
Ministry of Science: Live!
Here to inspire the next generation of scientists, and maybe some magicians too, is wacky live show Ministry of Science.
If previous shows are anything to go by, the team might be manifesting 20ft tall liquid nitrogen clouds, exploding oxygen balloons, fire tornadoes, hydrogen bottle rockets and more – all whilst teaching your little ones about the scientists who discovered them.
Suitable for ages: 6+
When: April 1, 12pm & 3:30pm
Admission: £15.50-£16.50
Fireman Sam
Fireman Sam has been delighting TV audiences for over 30 years.
Rumour has it he’s been doing the rounds on stage, too. In fact, he just might be calling in at Greenwich Theatre, where Norman Prince’s circus has got into a bit of a pickle mid show, with faulty lights and a tiger on the loose. Can everybody’s favourite fireman save the day? Hard hats at the ready: you might be called upon to help get this all-singing, all-dancing show back on the road.
Suitable for ages: 0-5
When: April 2, 12pm & 3:30pm
Admission: £15.50-£16.50
Pinocchio
Theatremaker Steve Tiplady becomes the carpenter Geppetto in his production of Carlo Collodi’s beloved children’s story Pinocchio, about a puppet who wishes he was a real boy.
Using the objects of his carpenter’s workshop, he carves the titular puppet live on stage, creates the story’s crafty fox out of brushes and makes a giant shark out of the shadow of two saws. The Guardian described this show as “wonderful work that celebrates the possibilities of theatre”. Don’t miss this chance to see it performed live.
Suitable for ages: 4+
When: April 2, 12pm & 3:30pm
Admission: £6-£10
Tales From A Thousand And One Nights
Dragonboy Productions, with adaptor and director Eliot Giuralarocca, present a new adaptation of stories from The Arabian Nights collection (a world-famous anthology dating back to the 12th century).
The production is a chance to see The Seven Voyages of Sindbad, The Little Hunchback, Faisal and the Barber, Behind the Door and Sage Duban and the Wazir performed live on stage, with puppetry, mast and live music fuelling the action.
Suitable for ages: 10+
When: April 3, 2pm
Admission: £7.50 – £12.50
Breathe
This environmentally-focused show from theatre collective Half a String is a celebration of the inner workings of trees, using some of the most intricately detailed props and puppets you’re likely to see on stage.
Taking its audience on a journey through a busy forest, the play tells its story from the perspective of an acorn. In the company of this cute little nut, you’ll see weird and wonderful fungi, creaking roots and dizzyingly high branches afresh. It’s not all twee though, a score of thumping drum and bass coupled with ethereal folk songs makes this show one-of-a-kind.
Suitable for ages 5+
When: April 4, 1pm & 3pm
Admission: £7.50 – £12.50
The Nosy Little Troll
The award-winning, puppetry-led Garlic Theatre brings its lively, imaginative kids’s show The Nosy Little Troll to Greenwich Theatre.
Set deep within a forest in Norway (where troll myths hail from), the folkloric story follows a little troll who follows her nose on a quest to find a delicious stinky smell wafting through the trees. Iklooshar Malara performs this story with puppets, live songs (including one about the Norwegian delicacy of brown cheese) and plenty of audience participation to help bring it to life.
Suitable for ages: 3 – 8
When: April 5, 11:30am, 1:30pm & 3:30pm
Admission: £6-£10
Animals!
All the animals are gathering at Greenwich Theatre, except one species, which hasn’t shown up.
Can you guess which one?
We hear they’ve been causing some trouble lately… This song-filled, interactive show from Dens and Signals is pitched as a collective celebration of the wildlife around us. They say: “It’s going to be wild!”
Suitable for ages: 6+
When: April 6, 1pm & 3pm
Admission: £7.50 – £12.50
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Who said panto was just for Christmas? Not the hard-working team bringing KD Theatre Productions’ take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears to life, anyway!
This riot of a show fuses the traditional fairytale with circus stunts, TikTok-worthy choreography and heaps of silliness. Will Goldilocks get away with eating the bears’ porridge and sleeping in their beds? Book a ticket to find out, and stick around after the show to meet the (surviving!) characters.
Suitable for ages: 3+
When: April 7, 1pm & 4:30pm
Admission: £15
Curious Investigators
Doing away with far flung adventures and the sorts of characters you only meet in fairytales, innovative theatre collective One Tenth Human has created a show about, er, rubbish.
Okay, it’s not really about rubbish, but a heap of rubbish is where some of this drama is set.
Its characters Scribble and Clipboard are on a mission to sort the recycling, when they find a mysterious egg hidden in the bin. Can you help them prevent the egg from smashing and rescue its unborn chick?
Suitable for ages: 3 – 7
When: April 8, 2pm
Admission: £7.50 – £12.50
The Little Mermaid
We can never have too many versions of The Little Mermaid, can we?
Here comes another one, ripe for the stage, which promises to be ‘an underwater musical adventure’.
Our heroine Ariel, her father the King of the Seven Seas and the evil sea witch Ursula are all present. (There’s no mention of a prince in the show notes, but a promotional photo suggests he’s alive and well too.)
So dive under water and follow the princess who dreams of a life beyond the sea. Little princesses and their families will have a chance to meet the cast after the show.
Suitable for ages: 5+
When: April 9, 2pm / April 10, 11am & 3pm
Admission: £15
Greenwich Theatre, Crooms Hill, London SE10 8ES.
Further shows are running as part of Kids’ Fest the following week.
For more information, visit: www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk/whats-on/
- READ OUR FAMILY REVIEW: Green Shoots Gratify in Greenwich Theatre Spring Festival
