Twirlywoos has a special place in this writer’s heart. During a time when the baby would wake up between 4 and 5am each morning, the theme tune introducing the TV Show was a welcome repite. It meant the baby would be transfixed into the magical world of the Twirlywoos and I would get a much needed cup of tea to start the day. So when we heard they were coming to town – we simply had to say hello to our dear friends.
We are very much familiar with the Underbelly – in fact we’ve talked about all their family friendly shows for the summer 2019. We arrived nice and early (and very excited) to see the show, alongside with lots of other toddlers, babies and little people. We waited to get into the Underbelly theatre – which seems to have had a makeover since the spring and the new theatre stage and entrance (with lots of space for pram parking outside) is a lot more inviting (and child friendly) than the previous set-up.
Seated at the front of the theatre cross legged on the colourful mats, we were welcomed into the theatre by the Quacky Birds as they explored the stage and flew through the audience stopping to say hello, to the delight of the children wanting to touch, stroke and cuddle them.
Then up up and away they fly and transport us to the world of the Twirlywoos where we join Great BigHoo, Toodloo, Chickedy and Chick on their big red boat as they prepare for a party and a very important guest. But before the very important guest arrives there was time to join them in an adventure or two.
First it’s the Laundromat where the Twirlywoos get up to mischief and overfill the washing machine with cleaning powder which, to the joy of everyone in the audience, results in bubbles everywhere.
Then on to a Pizzeria for some singing fun, whilst making our own pizza with delightful toppings including chocolate, baked beans, salmon, cheese and strawberries. The chef was a particularly impressive actor and brought this part of the show to life with his ‘Piece of Pizza’ song.
Lastly we joined the Very Important Lady at the party (played by the same actor as the Pizza chef) and wave goodbye to Twirlywoos after a song or two.
The show is a joyous experience filled with adventures and light comedy. The story maintains the same format as the CBeebies TV Show and it is a great way to familiarise little people to the joys of storytelling through theatre. The Twirlywoos puppets are very striking and come alive in the hands of the actors whilst the adventures are also very educational as well as fun (we learnt all about pushing and rolling!). The children were all transfixed throughout the hour and our Young Londoner was certainly left wanting more!
Twirlywoos Live is on at Underbelly on the Southbank until 31st August. For more info and booking please visit their website here.