Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin – with a confession.
The byline on this piece isn’t technically accurate: because, in truth, Jude Saint is two-and-a-quarter and hasn’t got to grips with his “ABCDs” sufficiently to pull together a 500-word review by deadline.
But we shall keep his name at the top, because Jude and his little friends comprise the audience that this show is designed to entertain.
For those unfamiliar with Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, it goes a little something like this.
Holly is a young Fairy Princess who is still learning how to fly and her magic doesn’t always go quite according to plan. Her best friend Ben the Elf is earthbound, but he runs very fast and can take off on the back of Gaston the Ladybird. The friends live in the Little Kingdom, a tiny land where flowers and grass rise high above them and every day is an adventure.
In the show, Ben and Holly have fun and games helping Gaston the Ladybird clean up his messy cave and face a jelly flood – and with a format full of games, songs and laughter, there wasn’t a moment to get bored.
The “way in” comes through a little girl who wakes up when the Tooth Fairy is tip-toeing round her, and gets shrunk like Alice in Wonderland so she can join Ben and Holly’s World.
The young audience members were encouraged to get out of their seats and dance, and the often-raucous parade of new instruments and other props onto the stage made for a lot of shouting and cheering.
With everything from trumpets to giant oranges somehow becoming part of the show, there was plenty to look out for – and none of it was frightening or overwhelming for the younger audience members.
Ben and Holly come from the creators of the ubiquitous Peppa Pig, and it shows both in the familiar but new faces of the main characters and in the professionalism and polished edge of the whole production. The costumes and masks were almost cartoon-like, and not at all scary. Much like Peppa, many of the audience knew every storyline from the shows.
With a good hour of fun, and an interval to break it up, this is a hit for even the toddler end of the age range.
Ben and Holly would have got a five-star review if only they’d included mentions of some of Jude’s favourite cars in the script – but then, perhaps that would have been taking the mission of pleasing the audience just a little too far, and dangerously close to product placement.
So we’ll leave it at four out of five for a fun afternoon of adventure.
Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom is at Eden Court today at 10am, 1pm and 4pm.
Contact the box office on 01463 234234.
