Review: THE TIGER WHO CAME TO TEA Thrilled Young Fans Of The Book

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Friday 22nd January 2016

Based on the children's book, by Judith Kerr, this production, adapted and directed by David Wood, is presented by the Adelaide Festival Centre and Andrew Kay in association with Nick Brooke & Kenny Wax and drew plenty of young people who showed their excitement at seeing the book brought to life.

The story of The Tiger Who Came To Tea is essentially quite simple. Sophie and her mother see father off to work, running late as usual, there are a couple of visitors, the postman and the milkman, and then, the tiger turns up. He eats and drinks everything in the house, dances, socialises, and eventually takes his leave of them, shortly before the father returns from work expecting his supper. With nothing in the house they go out to a café and shop for things to replace what the tiger ate, including tiger food, just in case there was to be a return visit.

There are songs and dances, and the audience is invited to sing along and perform the actions with the cast. I have to admit that the adults were having just as much fun as the smaller folk, joining in with enthusiasm. Who could resist singing about sausages and chips?

The book actually takes only a few minutes to read aloud to children, including looking at the pictures. David wood has added very little to the story but has expanded the interaction between the characters, and brought the musical numbers, to turn this into a delightful production running a little short of an hour. This is an ideal length when considering the ages and attention spans of the intended audience.

Sophie is played by Abbey Norman who injects a bright liveliness into her character, with loads of that irrepressible energy so essential when playing a child. She skips and jumps around the stage and doesn't let up for a moment, and nor does her broad smile.

Jenanne Redman plays Sophie's mother, and creates a very good rapport with Norman that carries them through the performance in a believable mother/daughter relationship. Benjamin Wells is kept busy as the father at the start and finish of the tae, popping in as the milkman and the postman and, of course, donning the suit to become the tiger. The three performers capture the charm of the book superbly, and that authenticity had the audience clapping, laughing and squealing with pleasure.

This is good old fashioned family entertainment that everybody would enjoy, and copies of the book and cuddly plush tigers were available for purchase at very reasonable prices, allowing people to take home a permanent memory of this wonderful production. See the trailer below.

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