***Advertorial blog for Cast***
We were invited to go and see Whisker’s First Winter, a magical first theatre experience for children, created by the Odd Doll Theatre Company.
I took my mini Mumblers (aged 8 & 5) along to Cast which is situated in Waterdale. I’ve come across lots of people recently who have never been inside Cast. It’s a wonderful space, with a huge variety of shows to go and see, including lots of fabulous seasonal entertainment.
Whisker’s First Winter was in their ‘second space’ theatre, which is a smaller, more intimate area. Really great for little one’s as it is quite informal. You can see from the seating below, we were encouraged to sit on a snowball and with just three tiers of seats, plus space for children to sit on snowballs on the floor, it was very cosy. We all removed our shoes as we went in to the theatre, which felt a bit strange, but I noticed everyone was getting really comfy and settled in for the show, plus it kept the area nice and clean.
Whisker’s First Winter was enchanting. The set was magical, it felt like we had walked in to a winter wonderland and the puppeteers came round all the children and sprinkled snow on them. Right from the start we were absorbed in to the snowy forest.
Whisker is a curious cub, who creeps out in to the cold and finds his snuggly home has been transformed with the snow. As he creeps out, he has adventures along the way meeting some lovely animal friends such as the brilliant Yanny Yak, some birds and some fish, before he heads back home to find mummy.
Huge well done to the puppeteers who made the characters come to life. Whiskers shivered like he was real, he tasted snow, he hung on to rocks…I was lost in the story so can only imagine it through a child’s eyes. All of us, myself and the mini Mumblers wanted to bring Whiskers home with us. He was adorable!
There was a real mix of ages there, with some very little children commentating through the show which was brilliant to hear. It was a lovely magical family theatre experience. All children were encouraged to meet Whiskers and Yanny Yak and the other animals at the end of the show. My two loved scooping up the ‘snow’and we all came home with it in our hair.
There were activities to do when we arrived at Cast – Whiskers activity sheets, plus there was a little colouring area where children could write a Christmas message and hang it on a special tree.
Whisker’s First Winter is running until 29th December. Running time was approximately 50 minutes, which felt like it went so quickly.
Tickets are £8.50 peak/£7.50 off peak
“Disclosure: Cast did provide us with free tickets for the purpose of this review. The opinion i’ve expressed is my own. We genuinely loved this show and although i’d never give a bad review, i’d never recommend something we didn’t think was great”
