Most people who don’t have children under the age of about eight may never have heard of The Octonauts but, for those of us who do have young children, we know that seeing The Octonauts, live, in the intimate atmosphere of Worthing’s Connaught Theatre, is a bit like a teenage girl being told that One Direction will be appearing at her birthday party!
The sense of excitement as the capacity audience takes their seats is almost at fever pitch as the young fans wait to see Captain Barnacles, Kwazii, Peso, Dashi, Tweak, Shellington, Professor Inkling and Tunip the Vegimal in their brand new adventure, appearing live for the first time ever in the UK.
Before they take to the stage we meet two human characters, the Octonaut cadets, who whip up those, already fever pitch, children even further and prepare them for the upcoming tale by enlisting the entire audience as cadets.
The adventure then starts and, with tremendous attention to detail, the HQ of the Octonaut’s home, the Octopod, appears before our eyes. Captain Barnacles stands centre stage and, in the first of several very catchy musical interludes, he introduces the entire Octonaut crew.
As with their CBeebies cartoon series, the emphasis is on educating the children about nature, sea creatures and teamwork, at the same time as they are led on an adventure that, somehow, manages to keep a sold out audience, full of boisterous children, sitting in total silence.
It is very obvious that the creative team behind the live show are aware of exactly how to keep their audience engaged from start to finish and, as a result, they have created a production of supreme quality that stays faithful to the Octonauts mission – to Explore, Rescue and Protect!
***** Five Stars