Anyone who has grown up reading The Famous Five will know that Timmy – the dog among the gang of adventuring children in Enid Blyton’s books – is vital to their crime-solving capers. Tamara Harvey, directing a musical adaptation that opens this month, says the canine casting was a source of no small debate. “There were those who thought he should definitely be a [real] dog.”
But given the vagaries of animal behaviour on stage, Theatr Clywd and Chichester Festival theatre’s co-production settled on a puppet instead. It is a magnificent creation; Timmy is out in full force for rehearsals at the London Welsh Centre, along with his puppeteer, Elisa De Grey. He bounds up to strangers, barks and wags his tail, so fluid in his movements that it is impossible not to be won over.
