London With a Teenager

CBeebies “Peter Pan” – Our Awfully Big Adventure

Posted on October 12, 2014 by katese11

Before I tell you about our epic day yesterday, I need to make one thing clear – I am giving nothing away about the 2014 CBeebies Panto. It was magical, brilliant and remarkably well-cast but beyond that, nothing is escaping from me. Not even under torture.

And torture may be the word that flies to most people’s minds when they consider 2 long train journeys in one day with a 5-year-old. But, yknow what? It all worked perfectly. It wasn’t torturous at all, or even particularly strenuous. It was a lot of fun and, while it could have gone horribly wrong, it didn’t. So, let me tell you all about it.

When considering the madness that is London–>Manchester and back in a day, I made a few important decisions. Firstly that I would take a rucksack full of snacks and games for fuel and entertainment. Secondly I would pre-book tickets for the train so that we would have reserved seats. Thirdly, that I wouldn’t take Eva. That was probably the most important decision. So, she stayed with Nathan (and actually, they ended up going to Winchester…see Eva talking about it here) and Reuben and I went on a mother-son bonding day. We were both very excited, up at 6 and dressed by ten past, all of which led to us arriving at Euston at:

For an 8:40 train (just to the left of the clock). I know. But better to be prepared, hey? With so much time to kill, we went for a coffee-and-juice break at Caffe Nero:

That set us up nicely for the day, along with a second breakfast of croissants once we were in our seats (see, told you I was prepared). Roo busied himself with a Beebies magazine while I watched the horizon and tried not to let the tilting train make me travel sick. Turns out the countryside is quite pretty when you’re going past it at high speed:

England slipped by and so too did the 2.5 hour journey. Just as Reuben starting to complain of boredom, the train manager magically appeared at my elbow with an activity pack for him.:

That, and a pack of dinosaur top trumps, saw us happily gliding into Manchester Piccadilly at just before 11. Oh, along with the recorded “do not flush” message in the train toilets that Reuben thought was the most hilarious thing ever. Virgin must think it’s quite hilarious too, as they’ve written it on the lid as well:

Brilliant. Anyway, back to Manchester..

Now, the bit I hadn’t quite prepared for was the journey from Piccadilly to Media City. I knew it involved either a tram or a train of some kind, and we managed to find one of those more by luck than judgement. We didn’t have a ticket though, and every machine had a confused family in front of it trying to buy tickets to get to Media City too. I was beginning to suspect that the Beebies event might be quite popular. I was also suspecting that we wouldn’t get a ticket in the minute we had before the next tram. We didn’t. We missed the tram and the next one was a full 12 minutes away. That seemed like a long wait to us, so we dived back upstairs to get some sandwiches before getting on a tram that we assumed would take us in the right direction. The hundreds of other families talking about pirate ships gave me a clue that we might be OK. But which stop to get off at? Now, that was a question. Salford Quays? Media City? Somewhere in between? On the advice of another family, we chose Harbour City. Was it right? Well, you’ll have to wait and see. First, we had the excitement of going on a train on the road that also ran on grass. It blew Reuben’s mind, and mine too if I’m honest.

We also had the fun of sitting at the fron and pretending to drive. Again, not a pleasure solely reserved for Roo:

We arrived at Harbour City pretty quickly but, as you Mancunians know, it wasn’t the right stop. Still, it was close enough and we could follow signs to the Lowry to find where we needed to go.

Arriving at the Lowry, it was pretty packed. There was the CBeebies Jolly Rodger, and a row of activity tents, offering crafts, water play, sand play and workshops. There was also the CBeebies live stage, where Dr Ranj compered a line up of poets and entertainers that had the crowd singing or rapping along. There were also a lot of queues – I think it was busier than anyone could ever have anticipated. So, we skipped the activities for the time being and went to the blissful peace of the bloggers’ drinks reception. I won’t tell you much of what went on in there…but it was pretty cool. Roo was excited enough to pose with what he calls the “Furniture Hotel” characters:

So, you can imagine how excited he was when some real live Beebies ‘slebs walked in. As was I. I’ll show you the slightly blurry shot of him and Dr Ranj:

But the other presenters were in costume, so that would be spoilerific. Maybe I’ll show you after Christmas.

Gosh, I sound smug now. I apologise. It was just such a lovely experience for me Reuben to meet these people we spend every day with. We’d met a couple of them before, but Roo has a mega-short memory so he was just as excited as he was last time.

And then on to…the panto! I really am giving no details away, but I can reveal this EXCLUSIVE review of the show by one Reuben A.Schoolboy:

“It was funny and nice”.

I can confirm that Reuben did indeed find it funny. He bounced out of his seat several times with laughter. I can also confirm that he did indeed try and ask the Controller of CBeebies which channel the panto will be showing on. If you can work it out, please do let him know.

I also can’t confirm who was or wasn’t in it, including a certain “CJ” who is a bit of a friend of the blog. But if you are a CJ fan, I doubt you’ll be disappointed. That’s all I’m saying.

After the exhilaration of the panto we headed back into the madness outside. It was still very crowded, so we walked through the activities and onto the grassy area on the other side of the Quay. Now, Londoners may not believe this but the weather was nicer in Manchester than it had been at home. It was a lovely day for a wander so we walked around and saw what there was to see. Salford Quays has that slightly surreal feeling that new areas do when you suspect you might be in a brochure rather than an actual place. . But it’s all very shiny and nicely designed.

Roo was keen to have a play so joined some kids on this sculpture that belongs to a channel most definitely not showing the CBeebies panto this year:

Then we spotted the home of Beebies itself and Roo ran in to admire the Tree Fu Tom wall before we carried on our stroll. I’d noticed the Imperial War Museum from the other side of the water and we thought it’d be fun to pop in there, if only to use the loos, and then go back out to have a snack and then go back in to play in the family activity room.

Which is what we did. Roo built a brachiosaurus out of foam blocks:

He also had something of a meltdown, which was pretty inevitable given we’d been on the go for 8 hours by this point. Outside once more, snacks administered and a toddle back over the bouncy bridge to meet an imaginary friend…it all seemed to help.

(To all the other imaginary friends who might be reading this – no, it wasn’t the one I’d planned to meet, who lives in Manchester. It was one from Somerset. Crazy, huh?!)

On the way we’d seen a little park that Roo wanted to explore, so it was back over the bouncy bridge and to this piece of sculpture, dedicated to the workers of the old shipyard. There were also a number of little jetty-things that were perfect for a bit of “Swashbuckle”-style plank-walking. But before you can walk the plank, you have to complete the tasks which, for Roo, involved dashing around the sculpture and climbing the rigging of this fiendishly difficult climbing frame:

My task involved faffing about taking arty pictures:

Well, I completed mine and Roo never got to the top of the slide so he was the one walking the plank. Not into the actual quay, you’ll be pleased to know.

Time was really starting to get on, so we started thinking about Nandos. I often think about Nandos. Sadly, Nandos wasn’t thinking of us. The Salford Quays one was extremely busy, with a 20-minute wait for tables and the alternative I found near Piccadilly didn’t exist, at least not anywhere near where the Nandos website said it was. Bah! I’m skipping ahead a bit, but the tram was so very packed on the way back in that it is probably best skipped. As is the wait at Piccadilly, where we had a much-needed Burger King and I stared at this sign for a long time before realising it said “Demonstration Only”:

So, join me if you will on the train back. It’s only 6:45pm but we’re in that weird train-time where grown men snuggle down for sleep at that time. I too was ready for sleep and built Reuben a little bed for him to do the same:

Of course, he didn’t sleep. It wasn’t even 7 o clock and he was on a train and it was all exciting. So, while adults snoozed all around us, he shut his eyes for seconds at a time before demanding more Dr Seuss books, more snacks and more dinosaur top trumps. We also made a short film, at his request. Doesn’t he look and sound sooo tired? And bless him, he gets very confused over chicken nuggets.

It was a long way home, but peaceful in its own way. We staggered off the train at 9, when again it felt like the depths of the night rather than the middle of the evening. The tube home was less peaceful, and required a lot of reading dino-facts out loud but we made it to the carpark at Walthamstow without any meltdowns and Nathan and Eva were there with the car to meet us. It was, indeed, an awfully big adventure.

Posted in Creating precious childhood memories or something (days out) | Tagged cbeebies, coffee, outside London, playground, theatre, train | 6 Comments

Tree Fu Winner Announced!!

Posted on October 10, 2014 by katese11

Hello readers and apologies for the lateness of this post. It’s been a crazy kind of week, and not in a fun way…more in that sleep-regressive way that makes you contemplate calling the local wolf-pack and asking them to take your toddler away. I have them on speed-dial.

All of which is to say, we have a winner of “Tom’s Big Spell” and it’s…

Angela o’Rourke!! Congratulations Angela, we’ll be in touch very soon.

That’s all for now, as we’re heading to Manchester tomorrow for a very special adventure. If you live around there, don’t forget there’s loads of fun happening at Salford Quays . See you there?

Posted in Facts! And facts are important! | Tagged cbeebies, giveaway, tree fu tom | Leave a comment

North Walthamstow Jumble Trail – 04/10/14

Posted on October 4, 2014 by katese11

Is anyone worried that London With a Toddler has got too shiny, too commercial, too slick? After all, we’ve had what you might describe as both decent content and decent giveaways recently. Worry not! This post has all the LWAT staples you love so much – rain, questionable parenting decisions and whining children. Read on.

Today, me and the kids were evicted from the house for the day while Nathan got on with painting Eva’s skirtingboards pink and Reuben’s green (they look awesome, in case you were wondering). So, we went down to Walthamstow to visit cousin Leo, a boy who has been on the blog since the first month. He’s grown a bit since then. Coincidentally, that part of Walthamstow was also hosting a jumble trail today – a chain of E17 residents who were setting out stalls in front of their homes to sell clothes, cakes and bric-a-brac. We considered going, looked at the pouring rain and reconsidered. This would be a foolish thing to do.

So, naturally we did it. Taking kids out in the rain is an absolute doddle, as long as you’re well prepared. Pity then that I was completely unprepared, despite the very obvious black rain cloud on the weather forecast. My cousin offered up to us all that she could, but Reuben refused to wear Leo’s spare wellies, instead choosing his rather leaky trainers. Eva was all up for wellies, but she has teeny size 5 feet, which Leo hasn’t had for years…probably since that first post on the blog. She was very insistent though, and she was going to be in the buggy anyway, so what harm was there in her wearing Leo’s old size 9 wellies?

We set out, with Eva protesting that she didn’t want to be in the buggy and Reuben and Leo questioning the whole validity of this walk. Roo kept asking where the car was and they seemed unconvinced by the promise of exercise, fresh air and bargains. To be honest, we were a little unconvinced too but we wanted to show some community spirit and tire the boys out a little.

We soon found the first stall, belonging to a lady I now know to be called Isla. She had an alluring selection of craft supplies for sale and it’s only a pity that my cousin and I share a particularly cack-handed gene pool so crafting isn’t really part of the family skill base. Eating cake definitely is part of the family skill base, so we bought some yummy chocolate and banana muffins and carried on.

There was more cake at the next stop, where my cousin bought a very nice dress. It was maternity, but you couldn’t tell. Some children were selling goodies for charity but we were still working on muffins so instead went inside to have a look at more clothes. Meanwhile, Roo and Leo had disappeared up the stairs to have a look at the little boy’s bedroom. They like to make themselves at home. Eva was digging through the toys too, as I bought her a purple spotty t-shirt. It was tough to extract the boys but somehow we did it, and sent them back out into the rain.

Approaching Thorpe Crescent, Eva was protesting loudly that she wanted to walk so I let her. Yes, in the size 9 wellies. Yes, she fell over a fair bit. But they had all found a rabbit hole to get their feet stuck in, so that was an unexpected bonus. The gazebos around the crescent were starting to pack up (it was about 3 by now, and the stallholders had clearly had a long and cold morning) so we didn’t get anything, though my cousin was tempted by a gin bucket. The boys were putting their feet in more rabbit holes, Eva was running off in her oversized wellies. It was almost time to give up.

So, we headed towards Lloyd Park, sadly not seeing any more stalls on the way. I think we’d left it a bit late, and the weather was really far from ideal from jumble trailing. But we’d had some fun, the boys had made a new friend and they were definitely being exercised. Plus, we saw the world’s most hipster estate agent sign:

I should have got a picture of the kids at this point, but my phone was misting up in the rain even more than it normally does. Eva had been wrangled back into the buggy and I’d taken her wellies away so she was just sulking and stretching pink-socked feet out of the raincover into the rain. Reuben was complaining loudly that the water in his shoes was weighing him down. I am totally mastering this parenting thing. Just in case my children looked too well cared-for, I decided to take Eva’s socks off as well. Barefooted toddlers just make me look like a natural parent rather than a bad one, right?

It was clearly too wet to go to the park (clear to us, not to the children, obviously). Our destination was instead the cafe where the nice man gave us five hot chocolates for £4.50 (two adult-sized, three child-sized). The kids ate pombears and read through the stack of books there, while we observed the Mormons praying outside. The rain soon passed and we headed back to Leo’s. By 4, it was gloriously sunny but the trail was over by then. It was a fun experience which would have been more fun if it’d been sunny all day (I assume a lot of the stallholders either didn’t put stalls out or gave up early…and I don’t blame them). There is talk of putting the trail out again tomorrow….keep an eye on local groups to see if that happens (I’ll try and post it on the Facebook page too). There are still Walthamstow bargains to be had, people. Just go prepared for any weather….

Posted in Just wandering.... | Tagged cafe, cake, East London, shopping | Leave a comment

Q Pootle 5 – The Great Space Race

Posted on October 3, 2014 by katese11

Now, I might have mentioned before that Reuben likes Q Pootle 5. There was a long period of time where he refused to get dressed until he’d seen it (and sometimes, that still happens). So he was thrilled to get the new DVD “Q Pootle 5: The Great Space Race”, featuring 13 episodes of those cheeky aliens from Planet Okidoki. He was even more excited to get the flier about the special Christmas episode, although we had to explain to him that it wasn’t on the DVD and he may well have to wait a while to see it. Possibly even till Christmas.

But there was plenty on the DVD to entertain him. As well as episodes like “Runaway Rocket” and “The Singing Valley”, there’s also a “Making of” and even some Okidoki karaoke! We haven’t tried out all the features yet, because Eva spotted the opening credits for “Sarah and Duck” starting just as we put the DVD on and then proceeded to howl all the way through it. But when she’s in a better mood, I’m sure she’ll like singing along with Q Pootle and his friends.

There are also a couple of extras on the box itself – a smoothie recipe and a Q Pootle 5 quiz. The long winter afternoons are drawing in, and I’m sure we’ll get a lot of use out of the DVD! When I asked Reuben what he thought of the episodes, he said they were “brilliant” and his favourite was the one with the race. When I asked Eva, she said “I want Sarah and Duck”. Can’t win ’em all….but I think it’s a great value DVD, with enough episodes to keep the kids from getting bored (or more to the point, keep me and Nathan from getting bored) and some good extras too.

There’s more CBeebies action on our Tree Fu Tom DVD giveaway. Don’t forget to enter!

Disclaimer: I was given a free review copy of the DVD. All opinions remain honest and my own.

Posted in Reviewing the Situation | Tagged cbeebies, review | Leave a comment

Octowinner announced…!!

Posted on October 2, 2014 by katese11

“He dug for treasure

He scratched for fleas

The bravest pirate on the seven seas”

Even Calico Jack would find it hard to come up with a foolproof way of hiding a winner’s name from the preview text but we have a winner for the Octonauts Live! Family ticket including meet and greet. It’s…

TANYA GRIFFITHS!!

Congratulations Tanya! We’ll be contacting you shortly to arrange the prize. For those who didn’t win, make sure you enter our Tree Fu giveaway as well!

Posted in Facts! And facts are important! | Tagged giveaway, Octonauts, theatre | Leave a comment

News from the Wonderful World of CBeebies…and Another Giveaway!!

Posted on September 30, 2014 by katese11

It’s no secret that my kids love CBeebies and so I’m always excited when I get any Beebies news to share with you. And this week I have four bits. FOUR! And one of them is a giveaway. It’s Big Fun Time on the blog. Oh yes.

Let’s start with something that’s not London-y. If you live inside the M25, I give you permission to either skip this next paragraph or go to the trainline.com to buy a ticket to Manchester. But I know I have at least two readers who ae Manc-based, so this is going out to you.

Remember the CBeebies panto news? Well, you’ll know by now whether you have a ticket (a big squeeee! for N at this point). But if you haven’t, fear not! There is loads going on outside the venue at Salford, on the 10th and 11th October. The panto will be relayed onto big screens outside, and there will be performances from Dr Ranj (just pretend you didn’t see this morning’s “This Morning”), Mister ~~Liker-Biker~~ Maker, Rebecca, Sid and Cerrie. There’s also a tall ship, which is becoming the “CBeebies Jolly Roger” for those days and featuring activities and storytelling. Then there are crafts, treasure hunts, dance classes… Don’t miss it!

Next up, let’s talk about that giveaway. Yes, one lucky reader will be receiving a copy of newly-minted DVD “Tree Fu Tom’s Big Spell”. It has 7 episodes of magical fun, so perfect for those long, dreary autumn evenings. Just fill in the form below to enter and I’ll be announcing the winner on 6th October. But if you don’t win, you can buy the DVD the same day as that’s when it hits the shops! Talking of giveaways, don’t forget that the Octonauts Live! giveaway is on for a few more days….but be quick or you’ll miss it…!

So, what else? Well, there’s a new Q Pootle 5 DVD out next week as well, which I should be reviewing for you very soon. Reuben always refuses to get dressed until QP5 has finished so I don’t think he’ll get the whole DVD every morning…but needless to say, he’s a big fan of Planet Okey-Dokey. Lastly, we’ve been enjoying the CBeebies/Sesame Street crossover “Furchester Hotel” and there’s now a Furchester game on the CBeebies app as well s some other updates. Find out more on the BBC blog..

Phew! That’s a lot of news. Don’t forget to fill in the form below to win the Tree Fu Tom comp!

[contact-form]

Posted in Facts! And facts are important! | Tagged cbeebies, giveaway, Octonauts, theatre, TV | 5 Comments

The Bucket and Spade List Part 10 – The Met Line

Posted on September 29, 2014 by katese11

The first thing I need to warn you about the Met line is how much concentration it requires to actually catch it. Any Met line platform on Central London is probably moonlighting as a Circle line platform as well. And a Hammersmith & City one too. So the likelihood of getting the right line is already an unpromising 33%. That’s before you even start on the various branches and mini – branches of the Met Line itself, with its fast and semi-fast sections that alternate depend on what time of the day it is. I can’t help but feel sorry for Preston Rd and Northwick Park – what did they do to get skipped out periodically and, quite frankly, cruelly? At least with the Harrow – Rickmansworth section it isn’t so personal. It smacks of “Mean Girls” where Wembley Park and Harrow on the Hill are the popular ones and they’re just passing notes in class about Preston Rd’s shoes or Northwick Park’s scandal-hit hospital. I’ve only seen “Mean Girls” once so apologies if it’s an imperfect analogy. I believe I saw it in Croxley though, so that’s probably the last time I took this particular trip. I digress…but the point is it a complex line, and it would be easy to go very wrong and end up in Hammersmith or Uxbridge. As I write this, I’m sitting in a dark tunnel just outside Baker Street, so there’s no telling whether I’ll get to Pinner or not. But that’s the game, and when it comes to pointless odysseys on London Transport I am most definitely a player.

The other problem with the Met Line is how long it takes to get anywhere. When I saw the 41 minutes the poster said it would take from, Liverpool Street to Pinner, I’m not sure I believed it. You can do a Victoria Line and a half in that time, and Pinner isn’t even close to the end of the line. And the first few stops fair zipped by – up to Kings Cross, the doors barely had time to close between stations. Even Finchley Road appeared relatively quickly but the gap between there and Wembley Park. … well, no one’s pretending that’s short. It even looks long on the map and it stretches over three zones. Then you realise how many Jubilee Line stations that gap involves and it starts to feel realllllly long. Additionally, the dogs that had got on at Barbican got off at Finchley Road and I think Eva was missing them. She was certainly getting restless and climby.

Strangely though, something else had happened with that climb into daylight. As London started to melt away, so to did the London rules. In other words, people started talking to each other. A couple sitting opposite gave me the shiny supplements from their Sunday paper (the exact same supplements that me Daddy saves for me…obviously nail varnish critiques are about my level). Then when we stopped for an illogically long time at Harrow-on-the-Hill, we all started to talk to each other about what had happened. Turned out there’d been a fatality at Finchley Road, just minutes after we’d passed through. That’s never good news. We waited there for ten minutes, maybe more, with Eva constantly heading for the exit and just as I as considering giving up and finding a bus, we were on the move again. Mere minutes later, we arrived in Pinner.

The nice couple with the paper got off there too, and directed me to the lift that takes you up to the footbridge then back down towards the exit. Let’s hear it for stepfree Pinner! Of course, to get that far we’d had to negotiate a lot of steps at Liverpool Street, both up and down again – if it hadn’t been a Sunday, it may have been easier as the Met Line entrance would have been open. But the crazy thing is that there’s a step-free route to catch the H&C, Met and Circle Lines in the opposite direction. So, you can go East in your wheelchair but you’re buggered once you get back to Liverpool Street. Did they think this through at all? It’s like those raised platforms at stations that are otherwise completely inaccessible. I like to think it’s all part of a grand plan somehow. I may be going to a TfL accessibility event soon, so will find out more!

But, we’d made it. To the almost unfeasibly nice surrounds of Pinner. I mean, just look how lovely it is:

We were there for Pinner Arts Week and, specifically, the Open Studio of local artist Robyn of Robyn Made. She specialises in papercuts, which are a small miracle for someone like me who can’t even guillotine straight. Look at this:

c.Robynmade

She also does fab illustrations of whimsical fairies and spiky dragons. I meant to buy a dragon badge for Roo but, dear reader, I confess that I got completely distracted by drinking tea and chatting and trying to extract Eva from the trampoline in the garden. She had a lot of fun. Robyn has been an imaginary friend of mine for a long time but she is also multi-talented (as so many of my imaginary friends are) and you should totally check out her website.

c. Robynmade

It was getting late, we were far from home and there was always the possibility that the Met Line was still up the creek and we’d have to go via an Overground route. So, we left Robyn and, passing the church opposite, caught sight of the top of Michael Rosen’s head. He’s a Pinner man, you know. I wonder whether he’s signed up to the Pinner Pledge.

As it happened, the Met Line was not only working fine but even arrived just as we were going through the barrier. Eva was asleep, which was a good sign for my peaceful, magazine-reading trip back to Liverpool Street but would later come back to haunt me (a 10:15 bedtime, anyone?). It’s a lot more straightforward catching the Met Line southbound – you essentially just rock up and walk onto whichever train is there – and it felt faster too. But I’m guessing that was more to do with the toddler being asleep instead of dropping gingerbread men all over the carriage floor…

Either way, I think we can tick off item 2 on The List – we have indeed spent some time on the Met Line…

Posted in Just wandering.... | Tagged art, choo-choo!, North London, West London | 4 Comments

Q&A With Richard Lewis of Octonauts Live! Plus Giveaway!

Posted on September 25, 2014 by katese11

We are ever so excited about Octonauts Live coming to the stage next month and are very honoured to have an EXCLUSIVE Q&A with the director and adaptor of the show, Richard Lewis. And we even have a sneaky extra giveaway at the bottom…don’t miss it! But first, some suitably facetious questions from LWAT to Richard…

Were you a big Octofan before you wrote the show? Are you now?

I’d heard of “Octonauts”, but not enough to have become a fan. Now though, having watched a zillion episodes, not only am I a fan but my wife tells me I talk like Captain Barnacles in my sleep!

Were you aware just how obsessed small children can get with the Octonauts?

It’s just beginning to dawn on me. When I tell people what my current project is and, if they have pre-school children they suddenly become my new best friend and ask if I can arrange for the child to meet them

Do you have 24-hour security surrounding the sets in case one of them tries to break in?

We’re actually protected by the same police officers who protect the prime minister!

Is there a meet and greet after the performance?

There are meet and greets but as spaces are extremely restricted, these are only available via competitions and these can be found in local press … and your favourite mummy blogs

How do you handle the underwater elements of the show?

Through a variety of formats. On the one hand we have projected animation of water and sea life on a giant backdrop behind the Octopod and on the other through blacklight techniques that allow us to show the Octonauts in the water with weightlessness and bouyancy

My son loves a bit of marine biology – which sea creatures can we expect to see in and around the deep sea volcano?

Ah ha! Well, angler fish, jelly fish and siphonophores…and some others that will be a surprise!

The CGI on “Octonauts” is getting ever crisper and deeper – how do you recreate that on stage?

In one sense you don’t. We do have terrific projectors that illuminate our world with amazing clarity. Additionally we use the animated computer-ending that is used in the TV show. So, where we show it, it is both original and crisp. However, a key part of what we have to do with the adaptation is transfer it to a stage and live environment – so we use theatre forms and techniques to do this, but this is appropriate as we are adapting to a live medium.

What other TV shows would you like to adapt? I know you have some secret projects on the go at the moment…

Errrrrm, if I told you that I’d have to kill you! We are working on some really exciting new projects for children but, although they are confirmed, so much of my focus is on Octonauts I find it hard to not not give 100% concentration to that while I’m on it.

Thinking of “Peppa Pig’s Big Splash” for a second…I’ve had a fair amount of experience watching toddler-aimed theatre. What do you do about the audience noise? How do you handle the sound without turning it up to deafening levels?

I would say this wouldn’t I…but the key thing is to make the noise a part of your show, then it’s under your control. We also look for a subliminal control mechanism within the show itself…so you get the kids to shout when you want them to and then hopefully create a sufficiently strong narrative that they are drawn into, being quieter in other parts of the play. I have been to our shows and you could have heard a pin drop in places as the kids were so engrossed.

Small children are also renowned for their honesty as well as their noise…what’s the most interesting feedback you’ve had from one of your audience members?

There is so much interesting stuff they say. But often they might say “it’s great hearing all the songs from the television” and quite often there are hardly any songs from the TV show at all. That usually means we’ve got our adaptation right, i.e. to the audience member , it feels like the TV show.

And finally….what is going on with Shellington and Dashi? Will we see some Octolove blooming on stage?

I couldn’t possibly comment!

You may have guessed what the giveaway is, given the sneaky reference above but here it is…we have a family ticket PLUS meet and greet with the Octo-characters to give away! Whoop!! Just fill in the form below and make sure you enter before the closing date of 1st October. The show is touring the country, so you can choose the nearest theatre to you!

[contact-form]

Posted in Creating precious childhood memories or something (days out) | Tagged Octonauts, theatre | 10 Comments

The Art of the Brick – 24/09/14

Posted on September 24, 2014 by katese11

What can be done with the humble Lego brick that has never been done before? That’s what you might wonder, as new exhibition “The Art of the Brick” rolls into town. But artist Nathan Sawaya has managed to create something that’s not only technically brilliant but also genuinely artistic. And me and Eva are here to give you a virtual tour.

The starting point is a film where Sawaya explains the thought process behind the exhibition. I’d just heard it from the man himself, as he explained that his love of Lego has started as a 5-year-old and stayed with him through a career in corporate law, until he decided to sculpt Lego for a living. It sounds fun but also painstaking and he described how one mistake, on a giant hand, took hours to unpick. The centrepiece of the exhibition – the T-Rex – took a full summer of work. I couldn’t wait to see what all that work had produced.

Moving on from the film, we wandered past reproductions of some of the most famous sculptures ever. David and Venus kept each other company in matching grey blocks, while another man just sat there and thought a lot. Eva was very excited about the whole thing:

Next, we found ourselves in a room full of art classics. The “Mona Lisa” was there, “The Girl With the Pearl Earring” and even a 3D-rendition of “The Scream”. Eva’s favourite was the Klimt Kiss, which may be because she likes yellow so much but also because she liked the people “aving a duddle”.

There’s also a detail from the Sistene Chapel ceiling though Sawaya chose not to recreate the entire ceiling. That would have been quite something Then, there was “The Great Wave of Kanagawa”, which had quite stunning levels of detail:

Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” and a Rembrandt self-portrait. At Eva’s behest, I took pictures of every piece, but I’m not going to show you all of them for fear of spoilers. You should really see them in the Lego-y flesh.

The next room had a more playful feel, with a giant pencil that was “perfect for writing on the ceiling”, an apple and a giraffe with tiger stripes. Obviously, Eva liked that last one the best. But she didn’t linger long, as she was drawn towards the impressive vertical model of the solar system that stretched from floor to ceiling. One of the photographers there got a picture of her gazing at it, so do keep an eye out for her cheeky face in your favourite publications.

After that, a swimming woman got a room to herself:

Before we emerged in a room with the most celebrated pieces “Yellow” and “Circle Torso, Triangle Torso, Square Torso” (you’ll recognise them from the posters). It was hard to get close to those,as Nathan Sawaya was giving interviews in the middle, but Eva liked the red, yellow and blue face masks. The whole room was a collection of surrealist kind of art, showing that Lego really could translate to any kind of art form.

Which was only proven by the darkness and introspection of the next room. A parent mourns the loss of a child. An artist loses his hands. I found it a bit disturbing – probably more so for being rendered in such friendly, colourful bricks. We moved on to what I thought would be the prize of the collection for Eva – the T-Rex

No, she was terrified of it. Serves me right for not bringing Reuben but sadly, he was at school. He would have loved the exhibition though – I may try and take him later on in the run.

Given that Eva was so scared of the dinosaur, it was probably best that the next corridor was once more friendly, accessible art. A portrait of Jimi Hendrix, a multi-coloured peace sign..it all led nicely on to the brightly-coloured “Britain” section at the end. It may be Britain at its most clichéd (telephone box, Beatles, “Keep Calm” sign) but it’s nice that the show has been customised for London.

Then, there’s the interactive area. Tables full of lego and a pit full of duplo that not only entertained Eva for a long time – it also got her into the background of two news pieces. Meanwhile, I was working on my own artistic masterpiece:

I never said I was arty, OK?

So, to sum up it is a fab exhibition. Fun but innovative at the same time, it manages to do something new without ever disappearing into pretentiousness. I’m no art connoisseur but it’s exactly the kind of exhibition I enjoy. We were in there for around an hour and a half, as there was plenty for Eva to look at too. She didn’t even try and break any of the sculptures, which was remarkable. It’s very suited to toddlers and parents will love it too. But I’ll warn you now, getting a ticket might be a tricky business….

Posted in Token attempts at culture (museums) | Tagged art, East London, lego | Leave a comment

The Bucket and Spade List Part 9 – RAF Museum

Posted on September 23, 2014 by katese11

We are 75% of the way through this list. And summer’s not over yet, no no. Just because it was dark this morning and Roo’s back at school and I’ve just written a post about Christmas…none of that means I can’t carry on with this summer project. Especially when it lends itself to such a gloomy day as Saturday was.

We drove there and back because it’s just down the North Circular now but it seems pretty close to Colindale tube if you’re on public transport. It was signposted from the A406 – admittedly in a different way to that which Google suggested, but Nathan did an expert last-minute lane change so that was fine. And we got to drive past the Art Deco temple that is Hendon Central tube as well, which is a rare treat.

Of course, given that we were driving, it was perhaps inevitable that both kids would fall asleep on the way. So it was a confused and grumpy Reuben that we tipped out into the car park at Hendon (car parking is £3 for 3 hours or £4 for 4..but museum entry is free). It was a grey and gloomy kind of day so I hurried ahead with Eva in the buggy and got all three of our bags checked, while Reuben and Nathan trailed behind. Then they didn’t appear. Then they still didn’t appear. Then they called to ask where we were. They were next to the big aeroplanes, apparently, but not the same big aeroplane we were next to. Turns out they’d wandered into the Battle of Britain Hall while we’d made what I thought was a sensible choice and headed for the main entrance. Eventually we were reunited and followed the signs to the exhibition halls, only to see a big flight of steps, so we turned around and found the lift. We got in it, only to get straight back out again the other side, in the exhibition hall. I’m sure there was an easier way, and I’m guessing the big flight of steps led to the balcony, for optimum plane-viewing….but I was a little confused. We did find this adorable dog on the way though:

Aww! We went though the first room fairly quickly because both kids liked looking at the aeroplanes but there wasn’t much for them to do, and they are quite hands-y. So, we disappeared down a white tunnel into the next building:

My main target was the Aeronautes Interactive Centre, but there was a lot for them to see on the way. Reuben asked lots of questions about the planes, which would have made Bang very proud:

While my total girl-cliche liked the plane that was covered in crochet:

And anything that came in “yeyyow”:

They both liked the Chinook that you could go inside, complete with sound effects (we unleashed Eva from her buggy at this point) but then Reuben had a small meltdown about being clearly too small for the flight stimulator. It was time to find the interactive bit. Happily, we were just outside it. And what fun there was!

There were wooden planes and helicopters to play on, a handglider, aeroplanes to sit in and steer and a lot of hands-on Science Museum-type things. One showed how fibre optic cables worked, with a number of small plastic rods you had to connect together and get the light shining through (Reuben had to be removed from that one so that Nathan could solve the puzzle in peace). Another one involved some jets of air and a beachball and some basketball hoops. Then there were wind machines, circuits to build and lots of other things. It’s the kind of thing that my nephews would enjoy, and they’re 9 and 11 (I think). At the same time, it was more than suitable for Eva. She occupied one seat in the helicopter and demanded that Reuben “come and sit ‘ere” so they could fly it together:

But she also liked sitting in the big plane with her Daddy:

If this all sounds exhausting, it was. Coffee beckoned. It was 3ish by now, and the cafe didn’t have a lot of cakes left so we got some blondies which were a lot underwhelming but perfectly eatable. I may also have found some mini muffins in the kids’ snack boxes. It’s not cool to BYO cake to cafes now, is it? Don’t do it just cause we did. I did buy Roo some apple juice and Eva a glass of milk:

Feeling refreshed, the kids ran off to play again but our 3 hours of parking were starting to run out and we still had a whole other hall to see. It took some persuasion, but we eventually got them to move towards the exit and gift shop. It took more persuasion to get them to move through the gift shop without buying any sweets or toys. Along the way we saw a real plane you could sit in. The people in front of us took ages on their turn, and a queue had built up by the time Roo and Eva got in, so they didn’t have a long go. But long enough for a photo:

Sad to say, we rushed the Battle of Britain Hall a bit. I would have liked to linger a bit more but the parking was running out, so we skimmed a bit. Nathan was totally freaked out by a mannequin in the Blitz scene that had a moving face projected onto it.Reuben just really, really wanted to go on this giant seaplane:

I stayed at the bottom with the buggy while Nathan took both kids up the steps and round through the nose of the plane. Apparently there was some squeezing through a small door to get onto it, and then Roo ran through in about five seconds flat. But it was totally worth it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the RAF Museum – I had an inkling that there would be fun stuff to do, but I’d totally failed to find the details on their website. I was a little worried it would be very hands-off, but actually it was great for kids and there’s a chance they may have actually learnt something too. I should know, as I seem to have the mentality of a 5-year-old. By which I mean I’m closing on this photo:

Snarf.

Posted in Token attempts at culture (museums), Uncategorized | Tagged aeroplanes, cafes, coffee, museums, North London | Leave a comment