"inspirational...uplifting"!
Robin and his family have to move from their idyllic rural life to one in the big city, and understandably the young boy doesn’t want to go.
Andrew Utley plays dad, himself unhappy about the change, spending too much time preparing too many flowerpots to take to the new flat. Leanne Rowley is mum. Efficient, industrious and always right, the disappointingly short flute piece she plays nicely demonstrates just how focused she is. But the star of the show is Matthew Tanner as Robin. At one moment showing off because he doesn’t want to leave his familiar surroundings (“It’s not fair!”), at another bowing to an imaginary audience because he has just made up another poem, he captures brilliantly both a child’s tantrums and also his wide-eyed enthusiasm, particularly for rhymes. The scene in a school assembly where he chats to the audience of children around him is magical.
Puppets are used to great effect, particularly in the dream sequence, where a robin carries Robin on his back over London.
The company is celebrating 30 years of productions with a show as inspirational about the possibilities of children’s theatre as it is uplifting in its tale of a young boy coming to terms with a crisis in his life.
Verdict: A young boy finds encouragement at a difficult time from the bird that sings at his window and from writing poetry in this entertaining production for children from the age of four.