4 STARS, June 23-24. This is an entertaining tale with a fun rustic charm that's sure to keep the kids entertained, says Sharon Wallace
On Saturday morning we headed out for a family trip to the Rose Theatre in Kingston to see The Scarecrows' Wedding with our excited little ones. They love watching shows here and had been excited about going all week.
Adapted from the bestselling children’s book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (the writer and illustrator of The Gruffalo), this tale is full of amusing moments and country charm. It tells the heart-warming and playful love story of two scarecrows, Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay who are planning the best wedding ever.
As the lights go down, the auditorium fills with cheery folk music and singsong, performed by the cast on guitar, banjo and accordion, with everyone clapping along in their seats.
The pair of scarecrows come to life and giddily dance around on stage; they fall in love and decide to marry. As they plan their special day they embark on collecting all of the items from their list of wedding day essentials, including a dress made of feathers, a necklace made of shells, and of course, rings. But when Harry heads off into the unknown in search of pink flowers for his beloved Betty, the farmer soon replaces him with the suave and smooth-talking scarecrow, Reginald Rake. Dashing and daring, he vies for Betty’s attention and risks ruining their special day.
Meanwhile, Harry’s adventures continue and he encounters some friends along the way to lend a helping hand, including a slow and sleepy snail and a regimented toad on a green space hopper. I think these were my favourite parts. The farmer played these comical additional roles brilliantly with lots of laughs from the audience, all the while upholding his role as narrator.
Well suited to the intimacy of the Rose Theatre, it’s the simplicity of this performance that makes it so charming. Whilst it may be a little too slow-paced for very little children, a cast of just three actors cleverly perform all of the characters with light-hearted humour and cheery country singsong throughout. A fantastic feel-good show; who doesn’t love a happy ending?
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