Julia Donaldson is one of those authors you’re pretty much guaranteed to have in your book collection, or to have read a book of – aside from The Gruffalo there’s a bazillion other books out there – a good chunk of which we own.
Room on the Broom is one we’ve bought recently – a story of a witch on her broom who keeps losing things due to the wind – as she picks up friends (a daft dog, a beautiful bird and a friendly frog) along the way – ‘is there room on the broom for me?’ they ask. Eventually the broom breaks, the witch ends up in a scary incident, but of course as it is with all books targeted at this age, there’s a happy ending thanks to her new friends. An added bonus, it’s also illustrated by Axel Scheffler who needs no introduction should you be familiar with Donaldson’s work – he illustrated The Gruffalo (and many more).
The best thing of all is how the rhymes flow – H has been reading this at nursery for a couple of months now (in fact just after we’d bought it), and joins in when we read – there’s plenty of scope for reading and letting your little one finish the sentence or indeed letting them read it to you – the rhyming is simple and tells the story perfectly.
Room on the Broom was first released back in 2002 – so it’s ten years old now! There’s all kinds of great things out there – how about a reading of it by Sanjeev Bhaskar over on Jackanory Junior? I found some educational resources for downloading over here – flashcards, sequence cards and matching cards to download and print. However, the most exciting thing for us is that it’s coming to the stage! (actually, I say coming, it’s been around a while now, it’s just new to us – and will be in the West End from the 21st November 2012 until the 13th January 2013).
The company behind it are Tall Stories – and it’s a magical musical adaptation! Tall Stories’ also brought The Gruffalo to the stage, so its going to be a good ‘un.
Room on the Broom is aimed at ages 3-8 and is a great introduction to theatre for kids and their families – expect puppetry, sing-a-long songs and plenty of fun for everyone.
Room on the Broom is presented by Kenny Wax and Nick Brooke, in association with Tall Stories. Directed by Olivia Jacobs, alongside Toby Mitchell as Creative Producer (both founders of Tall Stories), Room On The Broom has lighting design by James Whiteside, design by Morgan Large, puppet design by Yvonne Stone and sound & music design by Jon Fiber and Andy Shaw of Shock Productions.
The cast is as follows: Witch: Morag Cross, Cat: Emma MacLennan, Dog/Frog: David Garrud, Bird/Dragon: Sam Donovan, Understudy: Owen Guerin.
LISTINGS INFORMATION – ROOM ON THE BROOM – LIVE ON STAGE!
Dates: 21 November 2012 – 13 January 2013
Address: Lyric Theatre, 29 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 7ES
Box Office: 0844 412 4661
Website: www.nimaxtheatres.com www.roomonthebroomlive.co.uk
Ticket prices: £12.50 – £15.50 (plus 50p restoration levy)
Family ticket top price only: £58 (excludes premium and level 3 prices)
Premium seats £20 (includes free postergramme)
School and group bookings of 10+: £9.50 (includes 50p restoration levy) buy 10 tickets get the 11th ticket free.
For Schools & Group bookings call 020 7494 5837
Performances:
| Wednesday | 21 November 2012 | 11am |
| Thursday | 22 November 2012 | 11am |
| Friday | 23 November 2012 | 11am |
| Saturday | 24 November 2012 | 10am & 12pm |
| Sunday | 25 November 2012 | 10am & 12pm |
| Wednesday | 28 November 2012 | 11am |
| Thursday | 29 November 2012 | 11am |
| Friday | 30 November 2012 | 11am |
| Saturday | 01 December 2012 | 10am & 12pm |
| Sunday | 02 December 2012 | 10am & 12pm |
| Tuesday | 04 December 2012 | 11am |
| Wednesday | 05 December 2012 | 11am |
| Thursday | 06 December 2012 | 11am |
| Friday | 07 December 2012 | 11am |
| Saturday | 08 December 2012 | 10am & 12pm |
| Sunday | 09 December 2012 | 10am & 12pm |
| Tuesday | 11 December 2012 | 11am |
| Wednesday | 12 December 2012 | 11am |
| Thursday | 13 December 2012 | 11am |
| Friday | 14 December 2012 | 11am |
| Saturday | 15 December 2012 | 10am & 12pm |
| Sunday | 16 December 2012 | 10am & 12pm |
| Tuesday | 18 December 2012 | 11am and 2pm |
| Wednesday | 19 December 2012 | 11am and 2pm |
| Thursday | 20 December 2012 | 10am and 12pm |
| Saturday | 22 December 2012 | 10am & 12pn |
| Sunday | 23 December 2012 | 10am & 12pm |
| Monday | 24 December 2012 | 10am & 12pm |
| Thursday | 27 December 2012 | 11am & 2pm |
| Friday | 28 December 2012 | 10am and 12pm |
| Saturday | 29 December 2012 | 10am and 12pm |
| Sunday | 30 December 2012 | 10am and 12pm |
| Monday | 31 December 2012 | 10am & 12pm |
| Tuesday | 01 January 2013 | Day off |
| Wednesday | 02 January 2013 | 11am & 2pm |
| Thursday | 03 January 2013 | 11am & 2pm |
| Friday | 04 January 2013 | 11am |
| Saturday | 05 January 2013 | 10am & 12pm |
| Sunday | 06 January 2013 | 10am & 12pm |
| Thursday | 10 January 2013 | 11am |
| Friday | 11 January 2013 | 11am |
| Saturday | 12 January 2013 | 10am & 12pm |
| Sunday | 13 January 2013 | 10am & 12pm |