Rose Theatre Kingston, 2016

Rose Theatre Kingston

  • Theatre | Private theatres
  • Kingston
Advertising

Time Out says

Peter Hall, founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, is the artistic heart behind relative newcomer Rose Theatre in Kingston. Opened in 2008, the 900-seat modern theatre welcomes touring companies as well as staging home grown productions from Alan Ayckbourn's ‘Bedroom Farce’ to ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ starring Judi Dench. Its programme reaches out to the local community with a populist mix of comedy, music and events as well as theatre aimed at children (‘Room on the Broom) and teenagers (Richard Milward’s ‘Apples’).

Details

Address
24-26 High St
Kingston
London
KT1 1HL
Transport:
Rail: Kingston
Do you own this business?Sign in & claim business

What’s on

The Smeds and The Smoos

3 out of 5 stars
This review is from 2023.  Kids’ theatre company Tall Stories has been touring its stage version of ‘The Gruffalo’ for over 20 years now – it’s almost the same age as Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s iconic picture book. Though the company has dipped its toes in other waters, there’s no denying that it has found a niche: the other shows in its current repertoire are a version of ‘Gruffalo’ sequel ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’ (returning to the West End this Christmas!), plus Donaldson and Scheffler’s much-loved ‘The Snail and the Whale’ and ‘The Smeds and the Smoos’. Directed by Toby Mitchell, latest show ‘The Smeds…’ has been knocking around in touring form for a year or so but finally makes its West End debut this summer. And it’s very charming, in a predictable way. Tall Stories is ruthlessly efficient at the whole ‘take a bedtime story that you can read in five minutes and stretch it to an hour’ thing. An opening reference to ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ is a hoot, there are some nice songs from John Fiber and Andy Shaw, and Barney George’s sets and Yvonne Stone’s puppets do a decent job of channelling Scheffler’s eccentric, cuddly vision of space, as feuding tribes of aliens – the red Smeds and the blue Smoos – set out on a galactic odyssey to find their youngsters Bill and Janet, who have eloped together.  Though it can’t really compete in visual pizazz with the BBC’s recent animated version, it is pretty much a faultless exercise in modestly budgeted kids’ stage adaptation....
  • Children's

The Dinosaur That Pooped: A Rock Show

If you were confused by the news that a member of millennial punk pop boyband McFly was writing the songs for the new Paddington musical then The Dinosaur That Pooped potentially offers some clues. Writing with bandmate Dougie Poynter, Tom Fletcher has impressive bordering on alarming success as the author of a series of scatalogical kids picture books, many of which come with accompanying songs. The Dinosaur That Pooped series concerns the adventures of young boy Danny and his best pal Dino, a T-rex who eats everything in sight and expels it from his behind in a way that tends to improbably saves the day. Paddington probably isn’t going to be like that (it would be a bold new tack) but crunchy, poppy guitars and sprightly lyrics would not be a surprise. This new live show sees the duo go and see their favourite rock band, only to discover their villainous manager is making things difficult. The solution will inevitably involve pooing on things. Directed by Miranda Larson, this stage show contains new songs from Fletcher and Poynter. 
  • Children's
Advertising
London for less
    You may also like
    You may also like