tiger

Jenanne Redman  as Mummy, Abbey Norman as Sophie with Alan Atkins as the Tiger who came for tea. Picture: Alastair Muir

The Tiger Who Came To Tea

Malvern Theatres

****

Tick Tock Tick Tock was sung to the audience of expectant young faces in anticipation of the special guest joining Sophie for tea that afternoon in Malvern.

Everyone was on tenterhooks as time ticked away and daddy rushed out to work and the excitement was building for the loud knock on the front door.

To build the tension mummy and Sophie had to answer the door to the milkman and the postman before the piece de resistance.

In true panto style with “he’s behind you” being screamed at the stage, a giant orange, striped tiger bounds into view and ignites the charged atmosphere to volcanic emotional eruptions.

Sophie played by Abbey Norman and Ashley Tucker as Mummy invite the tiger to have tea and inevitably all the food and drink disappears into the tiger’s furry belly including all the water in the tap.

As well as devouring any edible item in the house the tiger manages to coax the audience to participate with the latest craze Tigaerobics.

Harry Howle who plays daddy, tiger, milkman and postman was certainly perspiring by the end of all the costume changes but still managed a smile throughout despite wearing a tea cosy as a hat and all his beer being drunk by a wild animal.

This adaptation by David Wood OBE of Judith Kerr’s story The Tiger Who Came to Tea was a roaring success with lots of sing-a-long songs and plenty of magic to dazzle the viewer and delight all members of the family.

I overheard one boy ask his mum if he could stay and watch it all over again which is high praise indeed and we were all left wanting more of the not so ferocious feline.

Emma Trimble

25-08-17 

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