Carmel ThomasonHave you seen the Stick Man? I must be the only person in the theatre who hadn’t, which is why I massively under-estimated this character’s popularity when the show first visited the Lowry a year or so ago. As I was to learn from my nephew – his...
When Edith Nesbit was four-years-old her father died suddenly, ending the idyllic security of her childhood. In many ways, The Railway Children is the story of her life as she would like it to have worked out. Written at the turn of the 20th...
The glimpse of a bare bum on stage is guaranteed to induce a burst of laugher. And herein lies the enduring appeal of Hans Christian Andersen’s morality fairy tale. It’s cheeky, silly and pokes fun at the pomposity sometimes only an innocent child...
Babe The Sheep-Pig is a story that has captivated young imaginations for more than 30 years. ‘A sheep-pig, that’s silly!’ my five-year-old theatre buddy laughs before we arrive. It is a ridiculous concept that twists and turns into a fantastical...
It’s a Horrible Christmas at the Lowry this year, but judging by the reception of Friday’s audience it could be one of their best. The show is a seasonal spin-off from Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories, whose ingenious concept of mixing historical...
Long before Harry Potter was imagined Roald Dahl captured the appeal of young wizardry in George’s Marvellous Medicine. This year marks 100 years since the birth of the much-loved children’s author and as part of the centenary celebrations...
It’s not yet 10am and already there’s barely a spare seat to be had in Manchester’s Palace Theatre such is the pull of children’s TV favourite, Peppa Pig. I’m here with my four-year-old nephew. The age guide is three plus, but looking around there...
I never had a nanny as a child, but if I did I imagine like all children, I’d have loved one like Mary Poppins. Now, what I’d give for a touch of her sparkle and ability to tidy up in a flash. Spit spot. I never tire of Mary Poppins – the quirky...
When a children’s TV show has survived the generations, like Sooty, there has got to be some magic in it. The presenters have changed, of course. And after being in the Corbett family for 50 years (first Harry then his son Matthew), it’s now fronted...
A story as well-known as, ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ has a lot to live up to in a stage-show retelling. Most people will know it from the 1946 Oscar-winning movie starring Natalie Wood, in which Santa Claus finds himself in court on Christmas Eve...