The Smartest Giant in Town by Fierylight & Little Angel Theatre at Lichfield Garrick

Look up, look down, the Smartest Giant's in town!

Julia Donaldson books are that great combination of utterly brilliant stories, exceptionally clever rhymes and little repetitive hooks. So when you are a 3 year old fan of The Smartest Giant in Town and your mum and dad know the book almost word for word, you want the stage show to be true to the book. In this case Fierylight and Little Angel Theatre get this spot on. When George the Giant stepped onto the stage of Lichfield Garrick Theatre, his costume was just like the book and so was what he said. I knew we were in for a great show and the smile on my preschooler's face confirmed it.

The Smartest Giant had a clever mix of actors and puppetry for the animals. We loved the part where George got fitted out for his new clothes. It was very funny with some great jokes for the parents from 'French speaking' Simone who threw out some French vocab: 'pret a manger,' 'JoJo BeBe Maman' to convince us of her couture credentials. George looked very smart indeed in his new clothes but as all Smartest Giant readers know it all started to go wrong.

The animals that George met along his way were well designed puppets which the young audience clearly appreciated. The first animal that we met was a giraffe worn by an actor. As George took off his tie to give it to the giraffe, he dropped it and it reappeared as a larger versions when he picked it up. This was a clever was of making things 'giant sized' for the creatures. The children quickly caught onto this joke and where waiting to see how things remerged to fit the creatures.

When my husband reads The Smartest Giant, he always gives the dog a Brummie accent so he was delighted to see that Fierylight and Angel Theatre had allocated him one too. "I always knew the dog was a Brummie," he whispered in my ear! My girls liked the mice as they squeaked along and were rescued from their burning house. The important thing was though that the order was right. The little boy who was in front of me knew exactly who was coming each time and it was very sweet to hear how pleased he was.

the Smartest Giant is currently on tour. Have a look at the link to see if it's coming near you.

https://smartestgiantonstage.co.uk

All photos credited to Ellie Kurttz and Fierylight

Special thanks to Lichfield Garrick for inviting us along to review the show.

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