Review: The Gruffalo is a fun interactive show perfect for all the family

Children can join Mouse on a daring adventure through the deep, dark wood in Tall Stories’ magical, musical adaptation of the classic picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler at The Lowry this summer.

While searching for hazelnuts, Mouse meets the cunning Fox, the eccentric old Owl and the high-spirited Snake.

Will the story of the terrifying Gruffalo save Mouse from ending up as dinner for these hungry woodland creatures? After all, there’s no such thing as a Gruffalo – is there?

The internationally acclaimed theatre company Tall Stories use a physical storytelling style combined with original songs to create a lively theatrical experience that embraces its audience, and the main cast consists of three actors. 

Mouse (Aimee Louise Bevan) is fantastic, with her cheeky wit and her actions being so perfectly timed. 

The Gruffalo (Aaron Dart) plays different characters, including The Gruffalo. His reveal is hilarious and gets all the kids giggling. 

Alastair Chisholm, who plays The Predators, is phenomenal.

Every character has a different accent and different feeling; an audience favourite has to be Snake, who has maracas to amplify his hissing sound. 

Isla Shaw does a wonderful job at recreating the book’s scenes and woodland life. The set looks like the book has come to life. 

It’s also highly interactive, and gets the children up out of their seats when they sing the original songs. 

And they have the audience’s help when they want to say the famous line, ‘There’s no such thing as a Gruffalo.’ 

Overall, the show is almost an hour long with no interval, and certain younger children may get more agitated than the older ones. 

But The Gruffalo is a fun day out for all the family. 

The Gruffalo is at The Lowry until Sunday 21st August 2022. Tickets are available here.