There's a Bear on My Chair
The world premiere of the stage adaptation of Ross Collins' popular picture books opened at the Southbank this week as part of the Imagine Festival.
For those not familiar with the story (and that plainly did not include any of the kids packed into the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Wednesday), a mouse comes home to find a polar bear sitting on his chair and can't get him to move. Part 2 (taken from the second book) finds the mouse taking over bear's igloo. It is a gentle tale about learning to live together that comes to life in no small part through Collins' illustrations. Toby Olié has done an extraordinary job at transposing them to the stage. The set is simple: geometric-shaped panels provide the framework to the mouse's house, the only object his chair. A huge, white polar bear lumbers onto the too-small chair, leans back, stretches and yawns. The mouse, complete with cosy knitted red and white jumper is small and bouncy.
The puppets are beautifully crafted and each is operated by two puppeteers, providing a masterclass in how characterisation can be conveyed by movement with the most subtle of touches. As Mouse tries various ways to remove his unwelcome visitor – using a range of different props – the rhyming text, including a series of fun rhymes on 'bear', is projected onto the back of the wall, so it feels as though we are IN the book.
The transition from Mouse's house to Bear's is done by swooping out to give a bird's eye view as a tiny bear travels across continents, oceans and ice to his igloo home. Here, the balance of power shifts as Mouse takes over, refusing to leave Bear's bed. Now a Taekwondo champ, Mouse's acrobatic martial arts display is a highlight. In the end, just when Mouse's tormenting of Bear was going too far for this old softy, a moment of unexpected kindness brings it to a happy conclusion.
It runs for 50 minutes and the whole audience was rapt throughout.
There is a Bear On My Chair Queen Elizabeth Hall to 23 April. Tickets from £16. Ages 2–7.
Oliver!
We took a combined group (aged 10–18) to the Gielgud Theatre to see Oliver! as a half term treat. A quick pre-theatre supper at Brasserie Zedel was perfect. Burgers and profiteroles for the kids, a glass of champagne and cheese soufflé for grown ups. It is less than 5 minutes up Shaftesbury Avenue but we slid into our seats just as it was starting. Dark, forbidding gates with 'Work House' written above them dominate the stage. An obviously pregnant woman approaches and collapses in front of them as the set revolves; 'Work House' changes to 'God is Love, Home for Paupers and Orphans' and we are with the boys in the orphanage, leading into 'Food, Glorious Food!' It is a clever way to link Oliver's mother to the action.
From here, it is one belter after another. Choreographed by Matthew Bourne, the ensemble pieces are breathtaking. The sets are spectacular - Victorian London is brought to life on a carousel that rotates and, with the addition of extra elements that slot in from above and each side, turns magicallly into a street, a pub, Fagin's lair, Tower Bridge. The character actors are superb: Mr Bumble (a fabulously mustachio'ed Oscar Conlan-Morrey) and Mr and Mrs Sowerby (Stephen Matthews and Jamie Birkett) together with a slimy, mucus-filled Calum Hudson as Noah Claypole, are Dickensian delights.
Oliver, Cian Eagle-Service for us, had exactly the right mix of ingenue and sparky lad (often there is too much of the former). Dodger, Billy Jenkins, as artful as you could wish and the army of Fagin's boys - seemingly incredibly young - have real individuality.
And as for Fagin - Simon Lipkin holds the whole play together. A chancer with a heart, an avaricious miser, he is flamboyant and grubby, manipulative but self-aware. In his knowing asides to the audience he almost plays the panto dame, but there is real heart when he looks at the prospect of bleak old age and realises that he needs to 'think it out again'.
My youngest son would, indeed, do anything for Nancy, a warm-hearted Shanay Holmes with a belting voice. It seems mean to flag up any weaknesses but in such a fantastic cast, Aaron Sidwell as Bill Sykes doesn't have the stature or menace to make you as scared of him as you should be. But maybe that is just memories of Oliver Reed.
That is a small grouch. By the end, the entire audience is on their feet, for an ensemble reprise of 'Consider Yourself'. Utterly brilliant. 5 stars from all of us. And I don't even like musical theatre!
Oliver! Gielgud Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. Booking to 29 March, 2026. Tickets from £30. Ages 7+.
Ballet Shoes
If you haven't seen the National Theatre's production yet, you only have until 22 February to catch it. Rest assured you don't need to be remotely into ballet to enjoy this exuberant delight of a show. Nor do you have to have read Noel Streatfield's classic 1930s' novel about the three Fossil sisters, Pauline, Perdita and Posy, all found by Great Uncle Matthew (GUM) on his travels and brought back to be raised by long-suffering Garnie, though hopefully you might once you have seen the show; it is one of my all-time favourite books.
GUM is a Flashman-type, over the top adventurer, brought to hilarious life by Justin Salinger, who also puts in a bravura, moving performance as Madame Fidolia, Posy's Russian dance teacher. GUM's specimen-filled house at 999 Cromwell Road provides a fantastic revolving set, presided over by Garnie, the dreamy artist who gives the girls the love and security they need (an excellent understudy Katie Singh on the night I went). The three Fossils (Grace Saif, Yanexi Enriquez and Daisy Sequerro) are simply fabulous. Sibling rivalry, ambition, pride, compromise - their paths towards becoming an actress, an engineer and a ballet dancer are not smooth - but you are swept along with them in a glorious woosh. Go the sisterhood!
Ballet Shoes Olivier Theatre, Southbank to 22 April. Tickets from £25. Ages: 8+. Particularly good programme which includes a 'Fossil Family Scrapbook' is recommended.
Emily Turner 20 February, 2025
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