Way back in March (yes, I’ve been meaning to write this one up for a while now!), the Little Big One and the Not So Tiny One had their first taste of the theatre. This wasn’t any old theatre, this was Dragonbird Theatre; a hugely interactive, highly engaging and genuinely really funny performance all rolled into a neat 12 minutes (the perfect length for holding little ones’ attention). Dragonbird was set up by two former drama teachers and performers – Tilly Langdon and Lotte Norgaard – who do everything from creating great props and writing scripts to embodying some brilliant characters that perfectly capture children’s imagination.

We booked tickets for Chef Gherkin and his Magic Mixing Machine, which was a fabulous story about a French chef and his magic mixing machine… and a royally fussy eater called Princess Pompusknickers! As mentioned above, the performance was relatively short, but was engaging throughout. Audience participation was actively encouraged with the children helping Chef Gherkin and Princess Pompusknickers make the worlds biggest pizza, balance cheese, stir tomato sauce and wrestle spaghetti!

After the show, we were all invited to step into the story and help create some of our own magic. Before helping Chef Gherkin create his culinary masterpiece, we joined in with a song about washing our hands (a good lesson in food hygiene) and our armpits (because, well why not?) Then we made our own stick-on pizzas with velcro toppings and took them up to the front so that Chef Gherkin could put them in his oven. Finally we all sat around a big “table” together and made a giant plate of spaghetti (made of ribbons) and tomato sauce (containing cloth tomatoes and beanbag cheese). And in true Chef Gherkin style, and much to everyone’s delight, we finished the morning with spaghetti confetti, throwing our ribbon spaghetti up in the air to make a delightful mess (which, you’ll be pleased to know, was tidied up afterwards with a very impressive team effort).

Designed for children from birth up to 5 years, this is a great activity to encourage imagination and creative play. Tilly and Lotte make the experience completely immersive so even if your child is a little on the shy side, everyone feels involved – but can join in as much, or as little, as they like. My two are not backwards in coming forwards (they’re possibly two future thespians in the making) so for them, this was a great morning out. I’m planning to buy tickets for another show very soon.

Based in Bristol, the Dragonbird Theatre do performances all over Bristol and Bath as well as using venues in Chew Magna (this is where we saw them), Clevedon and Radstock. Upcoming dates can be found here.

Tickets cost £4.50 and everyone over 4 months needs a ticket.