I have to admit, the first time my niece dragged me to see a children's show I went with all the enthusiasm of someone heading for a root canal. Yet there we were, squeezed into tiny seats, and within minutes I was grinning like an idiot as a clever little mouse outwitted predators with nothing but his wits and a tall tale. Something about that story stuck with me.
Today the same magic returns to London's Lyric Theatre. Tall Stories' stage version of The Gruffalo opens for a limited summer run, celebrating twenty-five years since it first appeared as a fringe production back in 2001. The show runs until 6 September and clocks in at a very civilised sixty minutes with no interval, perfect for wriggly three-year-olds and their slightly frazzled parents.
Tickets start at a very reasonable £10, with family packages that won't require remortgaging the house. It's the sort of accessible price point that makes you wonder why more theatre doesn't follow suit. After all, these early encounters with live performance matter. They plant seeds of wonder that screens simply cannot replicate, no matter how many pixels you throw at them.
A quarter-century of mouse-based mayhem
What began as a plucky little fringe show has since toured eighteen countries, been translated into seven languages and delighted more than three million people. Not bad for a story about a mouse who invents a monster to save his own skin. The current production is directed by Olivia Jacobs and Toby Mitchell, with Isla Shaw's clever set and costumes, lighting by James Whiteside and sound by JollyGoodTunes. The whole thing feels thoughtfully put together rather than slapped together for the holiday trade.
Julia Donaldson once described the live stage show as "such a special experience for children." Her illustrator Axel Scheffler called it "the perfect introduction to the experience of live theatre." They're not wrong. There's something quietly profound about watching small people lean forward in their seats, eyes wide, as the fox, the owl and the snake circle a tiny protagonist who thinks faster than they can pounce.
The live stage show is such a special experience for children.
That quote from Donaldson captures why this matters. In an age when so much of childhood happens behind glass, here is an invitation to sit together in the dark, laugh at the same jokes, gasp at the same moments and leave the theatre chattering about what might happen if you ever met a Gruffalo in real life. These shared stories strengthen the bonds that actually matter, the ones between generations, the ones that don't require WiFi.