The Gruffalo’s Child at the Lyric, Shaftesbury Avenue produced by Tall Stories, a company now in its 25th year of adapting Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler classics, is a production that knows exactly who it is for and, crucially, who it is not. Tall Stories has a deep respect for children and it shines through every creative choice.
Every beat speaks to their sense of play, their delight in noise, and their limitless ability to build worlds from the subtlest imaginative cue. It resists the now-standard Disney trick of slipping in adult-only jokes to keep parents entertained. Instead, it commits to the idea that children’s theatre is an art form with its own rules that it honours faithfully.
My son, who is five, was immediately taken by the show’s interactive elements: the shouting, the call and response, the moments where the cast broke the fourth wall and brought the forest directly into the audience. As he put it afterwards, “I liked the shouting!” These choices come with a trade-off. Donaldson’s signature rhyming couplets, which skip off the tongue so entertainingly I enjoy reading them aloud as much as he enjoys hearing them, are tucked inside the action rather than foregrounded. But for children this works beautifully. What they lose in lyrical rhythm, they gain in engagement and momentum.
One of the biggest shifts from the book is Stick Man, who here becomes a near-constant companion to the Gruffalo’s Child: part comic partner, part moral support, and, amusingly, a literal yardstick for measuring her fear. (This was a huge win for me personally, having failed to secure tickets to the Stick Man production.) My son adored him. When asked who his favourite character was, he answered instantly, “Stick Man!” Stick Man here is a central figure guiding her through the night, and his presence brings a tenderness to the journey that fits the emotional world of small children.
What surprised me most, however, was the production’s exploration of narrative: who tells a story, who gives it meaning, and who gets believed. Donaldson weaves this through both The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child, but onstage it becomes more pronounced. When I told my son afterwards that the Gruffalo, the Owl, the Fox and the Snake were all played by the same actor, Joe Lindley, he was stunned. It is a testament to Lindley’s skill that each character felt entirely distinct.
His performance sits alongside excellent work from Hannah Miller as the Gruffalo’s Child and Sabrina Simohamed as the Narrator and Mouse. After the shock wore off, he seemed relieved. I hope on some level he started to understand how easy it is to project our fears onto a shifting shape in the dark, and how often the truth is found in the light.
Tall Stories leans into that idea with heart and humour. The result is a production full of light, made with love, and carried through with laughter. Highly recommended!
