We were provided with tickets for this show for the purpose of this review.
It’s been a very busy week with the last few days of school, my birthday, some lovely outings and the house in chaos, so it was really nice to escape the craziness for a few hours on Thursday evening to experience some wonderful outdoor theatre at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. We were invited along to watch The Wind in the Willows by Immersion Theatre, and we took along Georgie’s best friend Lily-Maii to enjoy the show too.
The Wind in the Willows is a classic tale and the cast bring it to life in this fantastically colourful and funny show. The music numbers are fun, catchy and get the audience singing, clapping, saluting, and marching along with the cast. A particular favourite with the girls was Who’s the Toad? which was reprised several times throughout the show and had the audience chanting “You’re the Toad!” back at the stage.
Following the main plot of the novel, Ratty & Mole meet and become friends, enjoying boat rides on the river. Ratty takes Mole to meet Toad at Toad Hall, and the three prepare to go on a journey with his horse drawn caravan – until they are nearly mown down by someone in a motorcar! Toad becomes obsessed with cars – though not very good at driving – and the story continues from there. Badger and Weasel both play important roles in the tale, and the final battle for Toad Hall had the characters running around in the audience and the children squealing in delight.
All three girls, as well as most of the children in the audience, seemed to really enjoy the show… and to be honest all the adults did too! There is something really enjoyable about an evening sitting in beautiful surroundings with a picnic, and being entertained in such a fun way. This was Lily’s first outdoor theatre experience and she was having a great time joining in and watching the story unfold.
Immersion Theatre did a great job of keeping the audience engaged with the story; it was fast-paced and there wasn’t a boring moment in there. With lots of audience interaction it felt like a pantomime at times, and with jokes aimed at adults as well as ones for children they had everyone laughing. I’m not sure the current U.S. President would find it as funny as we did at times though!
All of the cast were really versatile, with several of them popping up in other roles when needed, thanks to some speedy costume changes. They all had great singing voices and brilliant comic timing. Their costumes were colourful and cleverly designed, with fluffy ears on hats and face paint used to give them animal noses.
I highly recommend Immersion Theatre’s The Wind in the Willows to people of all ages. It is highly entertaining & will be touring the country throughout August – check out the dates on their website.
