This Christmas season, if you happen to be in Birmingham or are planning things to do with your family, why not check out this outstanding performance of Pinocchio at The Old Rep Theatre? This adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s classic tale Pinocchio is now showing until the 30th December 2018!
Yesterday, Ms C and I had the opportunity to watch the show and we enjoyed it! This classic tale follows a curious and mischievous puppet called Pinocchio on his journey to discover what it truly means to be ‘a real boy’. Follow the heart-warming adventure that Pinocchio shares with his father, a lonely toymaker named Geppetto, and a whole host of other characters, including the Blue Fairy and Candlewick. This young puppet ventures out from the safety of his father’s workshop, finding himself in a series of precarious situations: narrowly escaping the clutches of Mangiafuoco’s Puppet Theatre, the depths of the ocean and the Land of Toys.
To be honest, it has been almost 30 years since I watched Disney’s version of Pinocchio and Ms C hadn’t watched it before. We were pretty much clueless about the storyline except we knew that Pinocchio lies and his nose grows longer, but luckily we read the programme beforehand. Did you know that Pinocchio was first penned in the year 1881? It was 137 years ago and it is the second most translated book in the world, only beaten by the Bible. The first language the book was translated to was English in 1892.
The show’s stage and costumes are designed by Mila Sanders and it was all lovely and authentic to the show. It’s a relatively small stage yet they have some grand props and the storyline just flows along beautifully! I love their catchy music that captures the story and their exciting dancing routines. It was a very enjoyable show and we all loved it.
The performance lasts for approximate 1 hour 50 minutes including a 20-minute interval. There are two shows each day from Monday to Saturday and none on Sunday. They also have a British Sign Language performance on Friday 28th December 2018 at 1pm and a relaxed performance day on Saturday 15th December 2018 (suitable for autistic spectrum). Do note that the theatre is quite small and there are a flight of stairs to climb if you bought a balcony ticket! Also, there is only one female and one male toilet located one further level up so you might want to consider a stall ticket. There are bars and snacks available to buy during the interval.
We think this is a great show to watch for all the family especially with the music, the energy levels and excitement which ran throughout the show. Later, we had a chance to meet the cast and had photos taken but Ms C was too shy and we had to give it a miss this time!
Disclosure: We received two tickets for the purposes of writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own. Images by Anda Latsa and used with permission.