At the weekend we went to see Home for Christmas at the Lichfield Garrick. This is the perfect show for young children and would be lovely as their first experience of theatre.
I had never been The Garrick Theatre in Lichfield and found it a really lovely venue. There is so much on, including the pantomime Aladdin. Home for Christmas is playing in the smaller Studio space. The seats aren’t too high and it is much cosier for young children.
The show itself is an absolute delight. It features the story of mum trying to get home in time for Christmas in her little red car. Along the way she stops to help her neighbours and the animals that she meets along the way, but this just makes her later. I loved the moral that you should be kind and helpful to everyone you meet. There was a lovely combination of acting and puppetry. The puppets were really lovable, particularly the bouncy dog, and were brought to life so beautifully. The backdrop is a huge interactive map, it is so clever how the little toy car drives around it to show the parts of the story.
The show is very interactive, one audience member gets to turn on all the Christmas lights, which is really magical and everyone gets a snowball to throw. It doesn’t matter if the members of the audience are wriggly or chatty. It lasts about 40 minutes so is just right for smaller attention spans. The actors are really charming and have so much enthusiasm and energy. It is a two-woman show but it feels like there is a big supporting cast and crew. I loved how they used a few simple props to bring the action to life. At the end of the show you can get your photo taken with the actors. This is such a charming show, a lovely Christmas treat for the whole family.
Disclaimer: We were given the tickets for the purposes of this review
