After two years of lockdowns, it's a real joy to be able to get younger ones out for their first live theatre experience - and what better way to do it than with one of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's classic tales? The live show of Zog debuted in 2018, and now we have the follow-up, Zog and the Flying Doctors, playing to sold-out shows at The Lowry theatre over the weekend.
Although I could have done with a flying dragon myself to help our family navigate the sheer traffic hell at Salford Quays on Sunday. As if the big orange dragon at The Lowry were not enough of a family draw, there was also the dragon boat race (how very fitting) outside on The Quays and also the Maker's Market outside seeing thousands of people all trying to get in (and out) of the car park at the same time.
However, once inside the show itself could not have done more to deliver the perfect first taste of theatre for my youngest, aged 2 and a half. He was sat in thrall from the moment the actors headed out on stage with flying puppets - and when Zog himself arrived on stage, the beam on his face was (almost) worth the traffic hell his poor old mum had to endure.
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The show is brought to life by the experienced team at Freckle Productions, who have brought previous Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler works to life on the stage like Stick Man, Tabby McTat and the original Zog story. Based on the Zog sequel, we see our hero, the hilariously mild-mannered dragon back in action.
Zog is now super keen student turned air-ambulance for his friends, Princess Pearl and Sir Gadabout. But yes, he still lands with a crash-bang-thump.
In the production we get some brilliant little songs from the cast, as Zog and his Flying Doctor crew tend to a sunburnt mermaid, a unicorn with one too many horns and a lion with the flu. There is brilliant stagecraft in how they bring the characters to life - like the mermaid seemingly sat on a rock with her glittering tail wowing the kids as the adults note how she is able to shimmy off stage without them noticing.
When Pearl's uncle, the King, arrives on stage we get some good old-fashioned panto style banter with the kids - that my six-year-old particularly enjoyed. And it's fair to say we all enjoy booing him as he trots out his sexist remarks about princesses needing to stay in their "silly frilly dresses" rather than be doctors and his comment that "there's nothing worse than a princess with a brain".
Of course, Pearl is here to prove him wrong, and prove him wrong she does with a little help from her friends, a half a pound of cheese, and her medical skills. It all comes to a feelgood finale where the King realises the error of his ways and we all realise how helping each other is the best way in the song "If it wasn't for you".
If only all the angry drivers in the Lowry Outlet mall car park queuing to get out afterwards could have heard that message, it would have just about been the perfect day.
Zog and the Flying Doctors is now heading out on a UK tour - with next stops at Bradford and Liverpool.
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