Watching theatrical productions usually makes me want to crawl under my seat, so acute is my embarrassment for the actors on stage. It was thus with fairly large misgivings that I took my three year old to the Polka Theatre’s production of ‘Charlie and Lola’, based on Lauren Child’s beautifully illustrated books and animated BBC programme.
The Polka is a fantastically child-friendly place with a great café, playground and well equipped indoor play area. With so much to do, it would have been easy to pretend we had travelled to Wimbledon just to play, but the palpable air of excitement, fuelled by more than 100 pre-schoolers, had my daughter repeatedly asking when the play was going to start – so any potential escape plans were scrapped.
The play starts with the instantly recognisable music from the TV show, and the familiar voices of its eponymous characters provide the dialogue for the puppets, but this familiarity is slightly jarred by the presence of four puppeteers on stage. Luckily, after the initial confusion – children could be heard asking who they were and why they were with Charlie and Lola – the puppeteers’ slightly larger-than-life presence softens as the play progresses.
In fact some of the more delightful scenes, especially the perfectly realised flights of imagination so familiar to fans of the books, are cleverly choreographed and owe much to the great music but also to the playfulness of the actors. By the end of the play, audience participation is running at about 95 per cent, and while I can’t admit to calling out ‘Goodnight!’ to Charlie or Lola, I thoroughly enjoyed the creative yet faithful translation of the books for the stage. More importantly, so did my three year old.
There appears to be a minimum age of 4 years for the Charlie and Lola play when you visit their web site which is strictly enforced - not sure how you managed to gain access for your three year old! - Ta, Claire
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Does anyone know how appropriate this play would be for a 6yr old? Is it purely pre-schoolers?
Thanks
There appears to be a minimum age of 4 years for the Charlie and Lola play when you visit their web site which is strictly enforced - not sure how you managed to gain access for your three year old! - Ta, Claire