The BAFTA Award-Winning CBeebies Children’s TV Show
Returns to the Stage with a New Show and its First Major UK Theatre Tour
In the Night Garden Live
At
Cliffs Pavilion, Southend
10th and 11th August 2019
Returns to the Stage with a New Show and its First Major UK Theatre Tour
In the Night Garden Live
At
Cliffs Pavilion, Southend
10th and 11th August 2019
In The Night Garden is probably the only lullaby-filled children’s TV programme that has almost caused a parental riot. Why? Because when CBeebies once moved the tots’ favourite - featuring the adventures of Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka and friends - from its bedtime slot to an earlier one, it prompted parent petitions, outrage, and a swift u-turn from the BBC.
Igglepiggle and co returned to their popular evening slot, and they’ve remained there ever since: In the Night Garden is the BAFTA award-winning series that’s been one of the Beeb’s most-watched shows for a whopping 12 years. Only 100 episodes were ever made - so toddlers and their parents around the country will be elated that, following 2010’s sell-out live touring show, In the Night Garden Live is coming to the Cliffs Pavilion with a brand-new show and a brilliant new story to tell on 10 and 11 Aug 2019.
It’s part of a tour of 40 regional theatres which promises to thrill toddlers and their parents or grandparents: there’s a reason celebrities including singers Adele and Robbie Williams, Rio Ferdinand, Billie Piper, Scott Mills and Amanda Holden are amongst those who have flocked to see In the Night Garden Live.
Igglepiggle and co returned to their popular evening slot, and they’ve remained there ever since: In the Night Garden is the BAFTA award-winning series that’s been one of the Beeb’s most-watched shows for a whopping 12 years. Only 100 episodes were ever made - so toddlers and their parents around the country will be elated that, following 2010’s sell-out live touring show, In the Night Garden Live is coming to the Cliffs Pavilion with a brand-new show and a brilliant new story to tell on 10 and 11 Aug 2019.
It’s part of a tour of 40 regional theatres which promises to thrill toddlers and their parents or grandparents: there’s a reason celebrities including singers Adele and Robbie Williams, Rio Ferdinand, Billie Piper, Scott Mills and Amanda Holden are amongst those who have flocked to see In the Night Garden Live.
But it’s the puppets on stage who are the stars of this show. Whilst the average grown-up might watch In the Night Garden and see a strange plot of cuddly characters apparently speaking gobbledegook to a soporific backdrop, it’s all sophistically-tailored linguistics to captivate pre-schoolers. Andrew Davenport, the show’s creator, explains: “The characters speak almost entirely in play language, which is hugely important to language development. Children recognise the nursery rhyme silliness of it, they love the funny language and characters, and the attention to detail that’s within them, and they love the whole fantasy of the Night Garden world - but I think, at the end of it, that it’s the comedy that draws them in.”
It might be all about having fun, but the makers of In the Night Garden Live took the responsibility of putting on what will be a lot of the audience’s first trip to a theatre very seriously. As Oliver Seadon, producer of In the Night Garden Live, puts it: “It’s such a heart-meltingly brilliant thing to hear the hysteria when Igglepiggle first appears on stage in front of his little fans - there’s a sort of glow of happiness throughout the theatre. In their minds he exists - he’s real - and they’re all so excited to see him.
“Making shows for two-year-olds is brilliant - they're so vocal when you get it right (and when you get it wrong). My favourite ever clip that one parent shared on social media after seeing In the Night Garden Live had her two year old repeating over and over ‘Mummy, it’s amazing. Wow, it’s amazing. It’s amazing.’ I think she says it around fifteen times! As a theatre producer you can’t really wish for a better review than that.”
To guarantee that reaction with the latest show, the producers called in world-renowned theatrical experts to create the show, which is written by Bing Live writer Helen Eastman, with the puppets’ costumes designed by Tahra Zafar. A costumier, puppet and animatronics expert whose career spans the blockbuster Harry Potter and Star Wars films, Zafar even worked with the Queen on her first (and only) acting role, as she was head of costumes at the 2012 London Olympics and Elizabeth II starred in the Opening Ceremony. Yet ask the creative whiz what character she’s most proud of working on in her three-decade-long career, and the answer isn’t Hermione or Obi Wan-Kenobe - it’s Upsy Daisy.
The always-happy dolly with red, pink and yellow hair who Zafar helped create for the original In the Night Garden TV show is, she explains, “just smashing. She’s a girl character who avoids the usual stereotypes - she isn’t overly bossy, or stuffed with props”.
It might be all about having fun, but the makers of In the Night Garden Live took the responsibility of putting on what will be a lot of the audience’s first trip to a theatre very seriously. As Oliver Seadon, producer of In the Night Garden Live, puts it: “It’s such a heart-meltingly brilliant thing to hear the hysteria when Igglepiggle first appears on stage in front of his little fans - there’s a sort of glow of happiness throughout the theatre. In their minds he exists - he’s real - and they’re all so excited to see him.
“Making shows for two-year-olds is brilliant - they're so vocal when you get it right (and when you get it wrong). My favourite ever clip that one parent shared on social media after seeing In the Night Garden Live had her two year old repeating over and over ‘Mummy, it’s amazing. Wow, it’s amazing. It’s amazing.’ I think she says it around fifteen times! As a theatre producer you can’t really wish for a better review than that.”
To guarantee that reaction with the latest show, the producers called in world-renowned theatrical experts to create the show, which is written by Bing Live writer Helen Eastman, with the puppets’ costumes designed by Tahra Zafar. A costumier, puppet and animatronics expert whose career spans the blockbuster Harry Potter and Star Wars films, Zafar even worked with the Queen on her first (and only) acting role, as she was head of costumes at the 2012 London Olympics and Elizabeth II starred in the Opening Ceremony. Yet ask the creative whiz what character she’s most proud of working on in her three-decade-long career, and the answer isn’t Hermione or Obi Wan-Kenobe - it’s Upsy Daisy.
The always-happy dolly with red, pink and yellow hair who Zafar helped create for the original In the Night Garden TV show is, she explains, “just smashing. She’s a girl character who avoids the usual stereotypes - she isn’t overly bossy, or stuffed with props”.
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Working on Upsy Daisy was Zafar’s first job after maternity leave with her now 14-year-old - “so the character is a bit like my other daughter,” she laughs. The designer is passionate about the importance of children’s theatre under the shadow of cuts to the arts in schools. “Straitened budgets and a 1950s-style emphasis only on reading, writing and arithmetic means that creativity is being sucked out of schools,” she believes. “So it’s more important for us on In the Night Garden Live, and in children’s arts in general, to make sure we do our jobs really well. We have a responsibility to get everything to right to fill that gap. Children’s theatre is about being together, taking in a shared experience, escaping everyday worries, being taken somewhere different.”
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That somewhere different is Igglepiggle’s Busy Day, as In the Night Garden Live tells the tale of Igglepiggle’s search for his friends, following their funny sounds until he finds them all. Fans will spot all of their favourites. Zafar has spent months working on the design of the characters “because, to the children in our audience, In the Night Garden’s characters are like friends that they know really well: they have to look exactly as they do on their screens at home.” And the show’s writer, Eastman says her biggest challenge was “creat[ing] something which will feel completely familiar to our young audience, who know the world of Night Garden and its characters intimately, but is also fresh and exciting. All our favourite characters feature in the story, as do the rituals of the Night Garden.”
That sense of responsibility is echoed by Will Tuckett, the Royal Ballet stalwart, Olivier award-winner, and one of the Royal Opera House’s top choreographers, who is director of the new In the Night Garden Live stage show. “It’s not just the actual show that we want to be perfect for our young audience, but the whole theatre experience,” Tuckett explains. “We’ve trained all the front-of-house staff to make sure everything runs smoothly - after all, it’s not every show that sees hundreds of buggies arrive! We needed to make it clear that we can’t delay the start as other shows might because of a glitch, for example, because parents may have to pick up older kids at a set time. We’re making sure the show works for parents as well as their children.”
Tuckett’s favourite thing about In the Night Garden Live is that “its style is perennial - a make-believe world, all about how friends operate, how small children play, how they learn about texture, communication - it’s very relaxing to watch. Parents might initially think it all looks a bit weird - but kids absolutely love it, and parents love watching their kids love something.”
Like the rest of the In the Night Garden Live crew, Tuckett knows he has “a really precious audience for Night Garden. For so many this will be their first time in a theatre; we want the families to go back to see something else, for the theatre to feel like a place they all enjoy going to, to see magical shows. It’s a big responsibility.”
By Lucy Tobin
To book, call the box office on 01702 351135 or www.thecliffspavilion.co.uk
That sense of responsibility is echoed by Will Tuckett, the Royal Ballet stalwart, Olivier award-winner, and one of the Royal Opera House’s top choreographers, who is director of the new In the Night Garden Live stage show. “It’s not just the actual show that we want to be perfect for our young audience, but the whole theatre experience,” Tuckett explains. “We’ve trained all the front-of-house staff to make sure everything runs smoothly - after all, it’s not every show that sees hundreds of buggies arrive! We needed to make it clear that we can’t delay the start as other shows might because of a glitch, for example, because parents may have to pick up older kids at a set time. We’re making sure the show works for parents as well as their children.”
Tuckett’s favourite thing about In the Night Garden Live is that “its style is perennial - a make-believe world, all about how friends operate, how small children play, how they learn about texture, communication - it’s very relaxing to watch. Parents might initially think it all looks a bit weird - but kids absolutely love it, and parents love watching their kids love something.”
Like the rest of the In the Night Garden Live crew, Tuckett knows he has “a really precious audience for Night Garden. For so many this will be their first time in a theatre; we want the families to go back to see something else, for the theatre to feel like a place they all enjoy going to, to see magical shows. It’s a big responsibility.”
By Lucy Tobin
To book, call the box office on 01702 351135 or www.thecliffspavilion.co.uk
In the Night Garden Live is the perfect musical theatre experience for the entire family. Children’s favourite CBeebies stars - Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka and friends - are all brought beautifully to life in a specially-written new story using full-size costumes and magical puppets with enchanting music and dancing.
This delightful classic, which premiered in 2010 before becoming a summer entertainment fixture, is a firm favourite with young pre-schoolers and their parents. Seen by over one million people, the critically acclaimed production has established itself as a must-see first theatre experience for young children.
Oliver Seadon, Executive Producer said “When we made In the Night Garden Live we never imagined it would run for 10 years and that over a million visitors would come to see it. It's incredibly exciting now to be making a brand-new show and taking it into theatres all over the country. This will be the first time that audiences get to see In the Night Garden Live in their local theatre.”
In the Night Garden Live is written by Helen Eastman (writer of Bing Live) and based on the Ragdoll television series created by Andrew Davenport. Directed by acclaimed Royal Ballet choreographer and director Will Tuckett, the show is produced by Minor Entertainment under licence from DHX Media.
Director Will Tuckett said, “Children know these characters so well, much better than we ever might think. They see them as proper friends- when they appear on stage live they are seeing friends liberated from the television or tablet. They are there, waving at THEM.
Taking your child to see them live on stage is an extraordinary experience - it’s a genuinely heartwarming and truly magical thing and makes me love my job as much as I do."
This delightful classic, which premiered in 2010 before becoming a summer entertainment fixture, is a firm favourite with young pre-schoolers and their parents. Seen by over one million people, the critically acclaimed production has established itself as a must-see first theatre experience for young children.
Oliver Seadon, Executive Producer said “When we made In the Night Garden Live we never imagined it would run for 10 years and that over a million visitors would come to see it. It's incredibly exciting now to be making a brand-new show and taking it into theatres all over the country. This will be the first time that audiences get to see In the Night Garden Live in their local theatre.”
In the Night Garden Live is written by Helen Eastman (writer of Bing Live) and based on the Ragdoll television series created by Andrew Davenport. Directed by acclaimed Royal Ballet choreographer and director Will Tuckett, the show is produced by Minor Entertainment under licence from DHX Media.
Director Will Tuckett said, “Children know these characters so well, much better than we ever might think. They see them as proper friends- when they appear on stage live they are seeing friends liberated from the television or tablet. They are there, waving at THEM.
Taking your child to see them live on stage is an extraordinary experience - it’s a genuinely heartwarming and truly magical thing and makes me love my job as much as I do."
Confirmed Tour Dates for 2019
20 & 21 July Hull New Theatre
31 July-4 August The Birmingham Repertory Theatre
7 & 8 August Marlowe Theatre Canterbury
10 & 11 August Cliffs Pavilion Southend
14 & 15 August Cambridge Corn Exchange
20-24 August Churchill Theatre Bromley
31 August & 1 September Venue Cymru Llandudno
7 & 8 September The Grand Theatre Blackpool
21 & 22 September Belfast Waterfront
25 & 26 September Wyvern Theatre Swindon
28 & 29 September Darlington Hippodrome
9 & 10 October The Cresset Theatre Peterborough
23-27 October Cardiff New Theatre
www.NightGardenLive.com
www.southendtheatres.org.uk
20 & 21 July Hull New Theatre
31 July-4 August The Birmingham Repertory Theatre
7 & 8 August Marlowe Theatre Canterbury
10 & 11 August Cliffs Pavilion Southend
14 & 15 August Cambridge Corn Exchange
20-24 August Churchill Theatre Bromley
31 August & 1 September Venue Cymru Llandudno
7 & 8 September The Grand Theatre Blackpool
21 & 22 September Belfast Waterfront
25 & 26 September Wyvern Theatre Swindon
28 & 29 September Darlington Hippodrome
9 & 10 October The Cresset Theatre Peterborough
23-27 October Cardiff New Theatre
www.NightGardenLive.com
www.southendtheatres.org.uk