MRS ARMITAGE ON WHEELS
Purcell Room
★★★½
“a visually inventive and musically robust production”
Adapting beloved children’s literature for the stage requires a delicate balance between honouring the source material and expanding its theatrical potential. Samantha Lane’s brand-new musical adaptation of Quentin Blake’s Mrs Armitage on Wheels—bringing the award-winning BBC Box of Treasures animated series to the stage—largely succeeds. It offers a visually rich, highly interactive 50-minute romp.
From the moment the audience enters the space, Ryan Dawson Laight’s beautiful set design establishes a vibrant, welcoming atmosphere. The show opens sharply as Mrs Armitage emerges from her cottage with an infectious, energetic greeting. The physical unfolding of this cottage is a masterstroke of scenic design, eliciting genuine gasps from the auditorium.
The production shines brightest in its clever use of puppetry and object theatre. Maia Kirkman-Richards’ puppetry design breathes incredible life into Breakspear the dog. The nuanced manipulation—making a simple tummy tickle feel profoundly real and touching—grounds the heightened reality of the play. As Mrs Armitage modifies her bicycle (adding horns, snack trays, umbrellas, a dog bed, and a sail), the visual comedy escalates. Breakspear’s hilarious evolution on stage—from jumping on a scooter to becoming a bouncing ball dog, and finally a balloon dog—is a brilliant stroke of physical humor that had children gleefully shouting “bike!” from their seats.
Furthermore, everyday objects are anthropomorphized to great effect. The delightfully absurd speaking mouth of a letter dynamically breaks up the action, revitalizing the room’s energy, while a singing football on the roof turns the mundane into pure, laugh-out-loud comedy.
Jessie Maryon Davies delivers a surprisingly large-scale musical landscape. The score feels genuinely theatrical, featuring complex vocal harmonies that elevate the material beyond standard children’s fare. The finale, “Let’s Celebrate,” is highly engaging, leaving kids enthusiastically debating the flavour of the beautiful prop cake (Chocolate? Peppermint?) long after the curtain falls.
Thematically, the constant upgrades to the bicycle brilliantly raise a classic philosophical question: does relentless progress actually help or hinder our original goals?
However, the production is not without its dramaturgical flaws. The episodic plot structure borders on being overly repetitive. While true to the picture book format, this cyclical repetition somewhat dampens the narrative momentum on stage, causing audience expectations to dip in the middle act.
Additionally, a noticeably long blackout disrupts the show’s otherwise bubbly pacing. If this was an intentional stylistic choice, it bred confusion rather than suspense; if it was merely a scene transition, it desperately needs tightening to maintain the young audience’s immersion.
Mrs Armitage on Wheels is a visually inventive and musically robust production. Despite a slightly repetitive narrative structure and a clunky transition, its heart, humour, and brilliant puppetry make it a delightfully freewheeling ride.
MRS ARMITAGE ON WHEELS
Purcell Room
Reviewed on 19th February 2026
by Portia Yuran Li
Photography by Dan Tsantilis
