Tag Archives: Julia Donaldson

A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE

★★★

Little Angel Studios

A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE

Little Angel Studios

★★★

“The set and puppets stay true to Axel Scheffler’s always beautiful illustrations”

A Squash and a Squeeze is the first book that the rhyming author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler created together, and here at the Little Angel Studios is a staged musical adaptation of the classic tale.

I asked the little girl next to me if she knew A Squash and a Squeeze and she told me it was all about friends squeezing into a little house together. The story has now been adapted for the stage by Barb Jungr and Samantha Lane, with music and lyrics by Jungr.

The show has stretched out the compact rhyming picture book to an almost too long one hour show for young children.

“Wise old man, won’t you help me, please, My house is a squash and a squeeze”. The wise old man knows, fill it with a flappy, scratchy, noisy crowd of farmyard animals and when you push them all out, you’ll be amazed at how big your house feels!

At the end of each scene, the aforementioned little girl, did ask is that the end? I love young critics.

The set and puppets stay true to Axel Scheffler’s always beautiful illustrations.

A simple and delightful set by Kate Bunce with a Wendy house that opens out into the inside of the old lady’s house, showing how squashed and squeezed they all become as she takes in more and more of her farm animals.

The puppets by Maia Kirkman-Richards are genius for both young and old to enjoy – but almost underused. Taking Scheffler’s wonderful vision a step further on from the original illustrations and bringing them to life on the stage, the puppets are an innovative delight with the hilarious handheld cat created from a fur-ball of a multi-coloured ball of wool, the popping-eyed handheld chicken who does lose feathers, the goat made from a wheelbarrow and the pig built with an apple crate body that gets filled with all the food it guzzles! The pièce de résistance though must be the Friesian cow made from a yoke holding two wooden buckets, one of which has udders hanging from underneath. But why there were only three udders is still a mystery to us all – I did double check that Scheffler hadn’t drawn it thus – no.

Each farmyard animal has its own upbeat song as they are enticed into the little house. And it certainly was a squash and a squeeze with them all inside! Barb Jungr’s music and lyrics are fun young children’s musical theatre, and as a renowned jazz singer and cabaret artist it was great to see her diversity.

The lead puppeteer Mark Esaias does sterling work as the many characters but syncing his goat’s mouth to his singing might need a teeny bit of tightening up. Both the wise man Gilbert Taylor and Ruth Calkin as the old lady, take their turns with the puppets – there are five to handle at once with a full house of farmyard animals!

Calkin finds just the right balance to create a warm, affronted and a despairingly funny old woman, and in her costume, she looked just like the picture book had come to life.

This stage adaptation introduces the wise old man (Taylor) as a silly billy character who makes “easy-peasy solutions”. He is certainly not the expected Scheffler creation with a white beard, hat and long black coat – maybe it was decided that character looked too austerely Germanic.

However, the easy-peasy solution solver arrives squashing and squeezing through the young audience and then proceeds to sing a song using his Walkman cassette player with the cassette tape getting stuck and needing to be rewound with a pen borrowed from the audience. A strange creative decision, and completely unnecessary to the story. Who in the audience, bar me, understood what he was talking about and doing – little girl critic said to her mummy what is that? – And mummy didn’t know either.

I also did not warm to the wise man character hitting a wasp’s nest on the side of the house with a bat and getting badly stung……that’s silly, not wise and not in the book either – even though the children laughed.

I was rather shocked to see missing from the online programme notes, a biography credit for Axel Scheffler because visually (apart from the wise old man), this production is very much thanks to his illustrations. However clever the author Julia Donaldson is (and her biog is there), a picture book needs those wonderous and creative illustrations – and so does this adaptation.

The cast work very hard throughout – and with three shows a day singing and dancing and puppetry and an audience full of excited children they work up a good sweat.

Did you enjoy A Squash and a Squeeze I ask my young critic. Mmmm…yes.



A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE

Little Angel Studios

Reviewed on 7th March 2025

by Debbie Rich

Photography by Suzi Corker

 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed by Debbie:

ONE DAY WHEN WE WERE YOUNG | ★★★ | PARK THEATRE | March 2025
BIRDSONG | ★★ | ALEXANDRA PALACE | February 2025
AN ALPINE SYMPHONY | ★★★★ | ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL | February 2025
PRIDE & PREJUDICE (SORT OF) | ★★★ | THEATRE ROYAL WINDSOR | February 2025
FIGARO: AN ORIGINAL MUSICAL | ★★ | LONDON PALLADIUM | February 2025
SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW | ★★★★ | HAROLD PINTER THEATRE | December 2024
A CHORAL CHRISTMAS | ★★★★ | SINFONIA SMITH SQUARE | December 2024
TUTU | ★★★ | PEACOCK THEATRE | October 2024
JOYCE DIDONATO SINGS BERLIOZ | ★★★★ | ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL | September 2024
ABIGAIL’S PARTY | ★★★★ | THEATRE ROYAL STRATFORD EAST | September 2024

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The Ladybird Heard

★★★★

Palace Theatre

The Ladybird Heard

Palace Theatre

Reviewed – 17th July 2021

★★★★

 

“a pleasurable distraction during the dog days of summer”

 

It’s school holidays again, and despite the pandemic, it’s the time of year when parents look around for something to do with the kids. This year, producers Kenny Wax and Matthew Gregory have answered the parental call for help with What the Ladybird Heard. The sixty minute show, now showing at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End, is based on the best selling children’s book by Julia Donaldson (story) and Lydia Monks (pictures). It’s about the right length for the kindergartner and primary school set. Bringing this well loved character and her farmyard friends to the stage is a shrewd move on Wax and Gregory’s part. What the Ladybird Heard is perfect summer material to welcome the winter pantomime and Christmas audiences back into the theatre. The cast of four (with a last minute appearance of the ASM as a policeman) has an easy and skilled connection with the audience. It’s a pleasure to watch them show off their acting, dancing and musical abilities.

That said, if there is one weakness, it is the way the story has been dramatized. There are lots of engaging touches, including the set, designed by Bek Palmer, and based on Lydia Monks’ pictures from the book. The way in which the animals are created by the actors from bits and pieces scattered randomly around is fun to watch. The fourth member of the cast, farmhand Raymond (doubling as the dastardly burglar Lanky Len), appears to be an usher randomly recruited from the auditorium, much to the audience’s delight. The songs, composed by Jolly Good Tunes, are just that. And Howard Jacques has an abundance of nice lines in his lyrics. Nevertheless, What the Ladybird Heard is, at its heart, a story about stopping a crime. The Ladybird, with her farmyard helpers, has to stop the Farmer’s prizewinning cow from being stolen by a couple of thieves. It’s a dramatic situation, with the right amount of suspense for a satisfying denouément. But the plot takes a while to get going. There’s a lot of business about introducing the story, instead of just plunging straight in. It’s also unclear whether this is going to be a new story about the Ladybird, or just a rehash of the first story in the series. There is a strong feeling that there isn’t really enough material in the book to fill sixty minutes of stage time, even with all the singing, dancing and audience participation.

Ultimately, What the Ladybird Heard works because of its cast. Director Graham Hubbard makes the most of the talents of Roddy Lynch (Farmer), Nikita Johal (Lily/Ladybird), Matthew McPherson (Hefty Hugh) and James Mateo-Salt (Lanky Len), and the team does not disappoint. From building puppets to playing musical instruments, singing and dancing, the actors are up for any challenge, and that includes managing the audience. They are particularly adept at handling the show’s educational aspect, which is all about identifying the animals and pairing them up with the appropriate animal sound—crucial to the plot. The actors also work hard at helping the audience spot the ladybird, who is as thrifty in her appearances, as she is in her words.

If you are looking for a pleasurable distraction during the dog days of summer, take your kids (or someone else’s) to What the Ladybird Heard. The Palace Theatre staff are well organized for a visit to the theatre, and that includes the hardworking front of house team who are doing their best to manage social distancing and good hygiene practices, both inside and outside the theatre.

 

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by David Monteith-Hodge 

 


The Ladybird Heard

Palace Theatre until 29th August then UK tour continues. Details whattheladybirdheardlive.co.uk

 

Recently reviewed by Dominica:
Public Domain | ★★★★ | Online | January 2021
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice | ★★★ | Online | February 2021
Adventurous | ★★½ | Online | March 2021
Tarantula | ★★★★ | Online | April 2021
Stags | ★★★★ | Network Theatre | May 2021
Overflow | ★★★★★ | Sadler’s Wells Theatre | May 2021
L’Egisto | ★★★ | Cockpit Theatre | June 2021
Doctor Who Time Fracture | ★★★★ | Unit HQ | June 2021
In My Own Footsteps | ★★★★★ | Book Review | June 2021
Wild Card | ★★★★ | Sadler’s Wells Theatre | June 2021
Luck be a Lady | ★★★ | White Bear Theatre | June 2021
Starting Here, Starting Now | ★★★★★ | Waterloo East Theatre | July 2021

 

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