The Tiger Who Came to Tea – York Theatre Royal, York

Writer: Judith Kerr

Adaptor and Director: David Wood

The Oliver award-nominated theatrical adaptation of The Tiger Who Came to Tea has been delighting young audiences in the West End and on UK tour for 15 years, and the original book for over 55 years, and it’s showing no signs of ageing.

The story of Sophie (Jennifer Addey) and her Mum (Katie Tripp) settling down for tea time, when they hear the doorbell and are shocked to find a tiger standing at the door, feeds into the imaginations of children all over the world.

The hungry tiger (James Carlisle) eats everything in the house, drinks all the water from the taps, and then stays to play and dance with the friendly inhabitants of the house.

David Wood OBE is one of the country’s leading writers and director of plays and musicals for children. His many successes include The Gingerbread Man, The Witches and Babe the Sheep Pig. This adaptation shows his skills and knowledge of entertaining young audiences, with participatory moments sprinkled throughout the performance, allowing lively young audience members to jump out of their seats and release some energy.

The tiger’s aerobic workout was a particular highlight, allowing the children to exercise their tiger roars which they have been longing to do since the giant animated character appeared on stage.

James Carlisle as Daddy/Milkman/Postman/Tiger is masterful in his creation of characters for children. Each appearance is sillier and bigger than the last and leaves the children laughing hysterically with his clowning antics.

Susie Caulcutt’s design is perfect, faithfully bringing the book to life on stage. The tiger costume is wonderful, masterfully looking like a tiger but in no way scary, so the children do not feel threatened, just utterly delighted.

The tricks with food disappearing seemingly into the tiger’s tummy leaves the audience gobsmacked and the magic of Scott Penrose is the cherry on top of this lovely production.

With a running time of 55 minutes, the production perhaps runs slightly too long for audiences who need to visit the toilet regularly, with many audience members needing to leave the auditorium slightly before the close of the production. The beginning of the show is slightly laboured and perhaps could be slimmed down to bring the running time down to a more manageable 45 minutes.

This production is a pure delight and the chattering happy young faces say it all on leaving the auditorium. Certainly one not to be missed for young audiences.

Touring nationwide.