Go west

The Wee Man’s birthday is tomorrow, and so with a little trepidation about travelling over an hour away from my local hospital so close to my due date, we set off for Richmond Deer Park to find a large inflatable arena which contained the Wee Man’s birthday treat – In The Night Garden Live!

We would have gone on his actual birthday, but annoyingly that was the only day they didn’t have any performances! But of course the Wee Man wasn’t bothered, and was simply amazed to see the giant pinky ponk bobbing around above the arena as we headed in through the doorway and towards a massive, massive array of pushchairs.

As it was his birthday, we’d splashed out on premium seating which guaranteed a place in the first three rows, and we were able to get a really good view of the stage. We were there for the ninky nonk performance of ‘Iggle Piggle’s Lost Blanket’, and prior to the show beginning the inside of the arena was lit up with pictures of trees projected on the wall, while titifers and the pinky ponk drifted lazily across the ceiling.

Then the show began, and for the next hour, we were treated to a show which kept the Wee Man enthralled for an entire hour – something previously unheard of. A remote control ninky nonk made its way across the stage, and was then of course followed by all the main characters. Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy were full size costumes, whereas the smaller characters were made to walk across the stage by people dressed in green outfits to blend into the background. It was done so well that after a while you forgot that the puppeteers were even there, and the children certainly didn’t seem to notice. All throughout there were big smiles from the Wee Man, and at the end he gaily waved goodbye to the characters, who followed the traditional ‘going to sleep’ routine, exactly like in the televised version.

The seats were fairly expensive, and even babes in arms required a ticket (luckily not babes in bumps!) so its not a cheap day out by any means, but as a birthday treat it certainly provided an excellent day out that the Wee Man thoroughly enjoyed.

And he got to go to the park afterwards, too!