Last Christmas we were gutted when we missed out on seeing the completely sold out Three Little Pigs (my girls favourite fairy tale), so when we found out the same production team Stuff & Nonsense were behind The Enormous Turnip at Jacksons Lane Theatre in Highgate, London, we knew we were in for a treat.
Based on the much loved children’s story, the energetic and rib tickling performances along with the puppetry and live music, make this a wonderful alternative to panto over the Christmas.
Mr and Mrs Chickweed live on an allotment in a garden shed the size of a loo and are on the verge of retiring from growing their prize winning vegetables when the last seed grows into an enormous turnip. From singing veg, to a bumbling Mr Chickweed, to adorable animal puppets, it had kids of all ages and parents completely enthralled and participating in the story. I won’t give too much away but it was like the whole room was involved in dragging out the turnip and Nia, 2.5, was shrieking in delight, while Saria 4 laughed like a drain. Afterwards, you can even meet the Chickweeds and the enormous turnip outside the theatre which caused much excitement…until one boy tried to dive at it…
Suitable from age two (although there were definitely quite a few under this age), it really is a show for all the family. It’s about 75 minutes long including a 15 minute interval and the performance flew by as we were enjoying ourselves so much.
Jackson’s Lane win extra brownie points for being very pushchair friendly (not a step in sight) although be warned that when you go back into Highgate tube station, the stupid down escalator isn’t in operation until January so there’s at least 50 steps down (or at least that’s what it felt like).
On until the 31st December, tickets are £10.50-£14.50 and family tickets (2 adults and 2 children) are £43 and if you go on the 27th December there’s a post show Q&A with the puppets and cast, or on the 29th you, OK the kids, can dress up as their favourite vegetable.
Thoroughly enjoyable whatever age you are, we may even go again before it finishes up!
Would you like to win a family ticket worth £43? All you need to do is drop us an email to contact AT bambinogoodies dot co dot UK (please replace AT with @, etc) by midnight Friday 9th December with your name and address to be in with a chance. When you email your entry, if you’re already a member of our daily newsletter or our Facebook page, it means you have two entries which doubles your chance of winning. Please note that we don’t share email addresses and your address is used purely for this competition entry and isn’t stored. See our full terms and conditions.
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