The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show

What a charmingly delicious show (pardon the pun!) for the mostly preschool age children and their minders.  The characters of Eric Carle's best-selling children's books leap off the page by means of three puppeteers and a host of over 75 puppets. Alongside the Very Hungry headliner, the show features three other stories – “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”, “Ten Little Rubber Ducks and “The Very Busy Spider”.

The puppets by Rockefeller Productions (receiving rowdy plaudits from children and adults alike) were very lovable, vibrantly coloured and closely resembled Carle's unique book illustrations.Whether animal, mineral or vegetable (and occasionally fruit), the puppets were brought to life effortlessly by puppeteers Tina Jackson, Eleanor Stankiewicz and Christopher Vernon without any signs of fatigue. I'm sure they were totally exhausted after 50 minutes of manoeuvring 75 puppets around the stage.

The textured white set featured five hidden square openings to enable the animals to poke their heads through as if to create a temporary scene change. The beautiful lighting emitted against the set matched the colours of the puppets and in one scene projected a giant spider's web. The music and sound design was very quirky and well timed to suit the action on stage. Each of the four stories were relished with equal eagerness from a very lively audience. In the final instalment when the egg hatched the roar from the crowd to welcome the caterpillar was reminiscent of a famous rockstar entrance!  

I enjoyed hearing all the chatter from the young crowd around me. After the Ten Ducks scene a young boy next to me said to his grandma in a loud voice, "I almost nearly cried at that one!"  So engrossed was the audience that the puppeteers could've almost gone home and left the children to their own devices. Many knew the words of the stories and were yelling them out before the puppets were even revealed. I almost said to the girl behind 'no spoilers please!'  CDP Kids have hatched another brilliant production that introduces young ones to the magic of theatre.  Maybe like the Very Hungry Caterpillar they are saying "I'm still hungry!" and will return to the theatre again soon!  

Jonathan Cox

Photographer - James Taggart