It is less than ten years since David Walliams began publishing children’s books but, in that relatively short time, he has managed to establish himself as the fastest growing children’s author of the century, with global sales of his books now running at over fourteen million copies.
Book of the Year awards have been given to three of his creations, Ratburger, Demon Dentist and Awful Auntie while Mr Stink, Gangsta Granny, Billionaire Boy and his first children’s novel, The Boy in the Dress, have all been made into television dramas. Now, just before Gangsta Granny appears in a live nationwide tour, The First Hippo on the Moon holds it’s world premiere at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre in Eastbourne.
The audience, which is mainly full of children between three and eight years old, know that this is a very special event and, as the lights go down there is a real buzz of excitement in the theatre. The stage lights up to reveal a jungle scene dominated by a huge television set showing the “BBC news”.
The jungle set is quite simple, just a few movable palm trees and some rocks, but the children aren’t here to see the set, they are totally transfixed by the TV news bulletin telling us that Hercules Waldorf-Franklin III, the billionaire Hippo, has built a space rocket to enable him to be The First Hippo on the Moon.
Sadly, he has stolen the idea from Sheila the Hippo who, as she gets more and more upset watching the news, decides that she too will join the space race. Without Hercules’s billions of Hippo-dollars, Sheila has to rely on her special friends, and things that she can find in the jungle, to set her on her way.
Sheila is played, simply brilliantly, by Alice Bounce who wears a full body hippo suit, with an incredible moving jaw which is linked to her voice, creating a very convincing overall effect. Her friends are all puppets of various sizes, all operated by the incredible puppeteers of Les Petits Theatre Company.
Dominic Allen brings to life Hercules and, together with Caroline Bowman, they animate the porcupine duo of Scratch and Sniff. Owen Jenkins has a, literally, huge task working Keith the Giraffe while Rosie Nicholls takes care of Derek the Ostrich and also animates a puppet version of Sheila later in the show. They are all assisted by Lauren Buckley, who also plays a part in helping to work the three-person puppet of Silver Bob the Gorilla.
Of course, in the jungle, rocket fuel is in short supply, but the animals find something that works just as well and is in plentiful supply. To screams and howls of laughter from an audience who, at such a tender age, already know that toilet humour is the very best humour, the animals set about collecting, how can I put this tastefully, “waste material” in a huge toilet that now sits centre stage.
The poo does the trick and soon Sheila is on her way and we see her and Hercules Waldorf-Franklin III racing away from earth towards the moon. The effects are, once again, simple but, also once again, very effective. Sadly, I have chosen not to reveal any more details of this incredible race, you will need to head to Eastbourne’s Royal Hippodrome Theatre, or your nearest book store, to see how it ends.
What I can say is that, for the hour or so that the production runs (with no interval) not one child has spoken, or gone to the toilet, or made a fuss. They sit, as do the adults, with eyes fixed on the stage watching this superb all singing, all dancing, production unfold.
As this is the World Premiere, the author is in the audience and takes to the stage after the show has ended to say that, in his opinion, the show is “so much better than the book” which, as all of David Walliams’ books are so very good, is well deserved praise for a really tremendous show that will thrill children and entertain adults all round the country as it heads off on it’s huge national tour.
***** Five Stars