Reviewed by Nikki Cotter

Opening Night verdict ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The producers of The Very Hungry Caterpillar as well as Sarah and The Duck Live clearly know a thing or two about creating entertaining children’s theatre. Their latest production: The Twirlywoos Live sees the much loved CBeebies TV show and its colourful, mischievous characters live on stage much to the delight of the youngsters in the audience.

For those not in the know the Twirlywoos are a family of bird like creatures who travel round in a big red boat spreading a little mischief wherever they wash up. They are made up of Great Big Hoo, Toodloo, Chickedy and Chick not forgetting colourful creature Peekaboo, whop pops up every now and again to cause a little mischief. There was also a flying visit from the Quacky Birds who took to the audience for a bit of noisy exploration as well as a surprise guest in the form of The Very Important Lady.

The innovative set changes from boat to laundrette to pizza parlour to party room with ease as the actors/puppeteers work with the Twirlywoos to teach the little ones in the audience about physical actions like ‘pulling’ and ‘rolling’ all done to simple yet memorable effect.

There’s singing and comedy as well as opportunities to interact including a rather exciting section where bubbles rain down on the audience causing a near frenzy of excitement.

The children I took loved the interactive elements enjoying shouting out their favourite pizza toppings and laughing hysterically at the washing basket which kept getting ‘pulled’ in different directions.

There were times at the Epstein Theatre when we struggled to hear the dialogue between the actors, while this show is very visual the dialogue is important to aid the storytelling and also retain the full attention of the audience; upping the volume a little would ensure there are no such problems in future performances.

With mischief, music and lots of giddy hijinks on the agenda Twirlywoos Live is a laugh-out-loud adventure, lapped up by little ones, great family fun.

Catch the show at the Epstein until Thursday 21st February tickets can be found here.