Tuesday 26 January 2021

Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On...

 I will admit that I cannot stand Iggle-Piggle and In The Night Garden. And don't get me started on The Teletubbies.But over the summer, Rosie introduced me to two of her favourite CBeebies TV presenters - and I think she excellent taste.

Justin Fletcher - aka Mr Tumble - is brilliant. He engages the children, is a master of costume change, 
a wizard at Makaton  - and generally very gifted. He includes children of different ages and abilities in his show - and makes learning fun. Andy Day, presenter of Andy's Dinosaur Adventures is equally talented. Under his excellent tutelage, Rosie can now explain the differences between a triceratops and a pterodactyl. Our Dinosaur Day last summer certainly benefitted from some of his teaching materials.
And these two- plus a number of other TV presenters and well-respected actors [like Annette Badlands -oldies like me know her from many radio and TV roles, lately the Pathologist in Midsomer] got together a couple of years back to produce a play. With the help of the Royal Shakespeare Company, they did The Tempest - for children.
Rosie sat and watched it with her parents over the weekend. She thought Andy made a very good monster [Caliban] Mr Tumble, not surprisingly, was in truly well-cast as The Jester.
The filming was beautifully done on stage in Huddersfield, with an invited audience of parents and pre-schoolers.
It is a truly magical show - in the heady pre-lockdown age of 2018, the sight of the children laughing, singing and clapping together is heartwarming. And the cast [plus stage sets and costumes] are superb.
Rosie's a bit young for Mr Morpurgo's Tales as yet - but this is certainly something to get a child turned on to the Bard from early years [well done Liz and Jon]
If you have an hour to spare, enjoy this production. After Rosie saw it, I made a point of watching it - a glorious romp, as good as any Christmas Panto. Link to the whole production is HERE - or you can just watch the songs





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9 comments:

  1. Ha, ha, I remember watching Teletubbies with my daughter!

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    1. I hadn't realised TT was shown in the USA

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  2. Eldest Grandson announced when he was just 4 that he was going to be a paleontologist .....thanks to Andy!

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    1. That's really brilliant - I know your family are already good at encouraging us to take note of historical stuff. There is much on children's TV now which is really educational and not mere entertainment.

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  3. I have been watching Mr Tumble with our two year old grandson and I think the same as you - he is very good at what he does and excellent with the children. Surprised to hear about the event in Huddersfield - I live here and had not heard about it!!

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    1. It was 5 years ago - and to "an invited audience" so maybe it wasn't widely publicised.

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  4. We must watch that! I believe, not long after my boys' days with Mr Tumble, that Justin was in the Honours List? We loved all his shows.

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  5. You're right. He was awarded the MBE in 2008 "for services to children's broadcasting and the voluntary sector"

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  6. I also can't stand those 3 first named TV programmes. Glad there's something better!

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