Pongo's Party at The Lighthouse Poole - Review

I always keep an eye out for new shows that would be suitable for Elliot at our local arts centre, Lighthouse Poole and this one immediately caught my eye! Pongo's Party is a family show aimed at children under 7 and features the voices of Justin Fletcher and Nicole Davis from CBeebies.

I had shown Elliot the trailer on YouTube and he was really excited to see the show. In fact, he bounced all the way into the theatre in excitement!! The theatre was great, loved the tiered seating as it meant that everyone had a clear view of the stage. There were plenty of booster seats available for the little ones too which was brilliant, the staff at the Lighthouse were really helpful handing these out.

Pongo's Party tells the story of Pongo the Pig and all his friends on the farm. It's Pongo's birthday but no-one seems to have remembered. I won't spoil the story too much but let's just say there might be a surprise party on the cards!

From the very first second, Elliot was memerised! The stage layout was simple but very effective and it allowed the puppets to interact with the audience. Elliot particularly enjoyed booing the naughty crow!

The show contains lots of nursery rhymes and songs and audience participation is definitely encouraged. It was really sweet to see all the children joining in with the hokey cokey! We also got to take part in a giant game of pass the parcel...although Elliot did cry a bit when the parcel didn't come to him!

I thought the actors who played Sally and Marty did a great job...although they might have been upstaged by birthday boy Pongo ;)

Makaton signing is used through out the show and I'm sure this is familiar to any child who is a fan of Mr Tumble. I think it's brilliant that children who use Makaton are able to join in with the songs!

After the show Elliot was able to meet Sally the Scarecrow and he said "I liked your singing" - so sweet :) ("Sally" was lovely by the way and so nice to all the children waiting in line to meet her)

We loved Pongo's Party and really enjoyed our afternoon at the theatre. I've always enjoyed seeing live shows and I love that Elliot is now at an age where he enjoys it too :)

Pongo's Party is touring the UK in 2016, see here for tour dates

*Thank you to Martin at Honalee Media for letting me use the Pongo's Party production photos in this review


Linking up with...