*AD: The following was a gifted experience*
This is the second time that I’ve shown heavy praise to Eric Carle’s most famous work, but The Very Hungry Caterpillar is that damn good. The book engages both of our kids (even when one of them reads it every day and the other is only a little past his first birthday). They’ve both got heaps of Very Hungry Caterpillar merch in the house (in fact, the small one is wearing one of the bodysuits as I write this) so they have no choice but to love it until the end of time.
We were recently given the chance to take that relationship a step further. Hollie and I took Cameo to London to see the world’s most recognisable caterpillar live. Jonathan Rockerfeller has brought the iconic visuals from the book and an interactive experience out of it, and there was no way that we’d miss a chance to see it for ourselves.
We headed to the Troudadour in White City (London) to see it and what a theatre it is. The place is massive, very small child-friendly and got us excited as all the youngsters were to see what it would actually be like.
I have to be honest and say that in spite of how much we love the classic caterpillar tale, we haven’t explored anything else from Eric Carle’s catalogue. The show was a great way to get familiar with a handful of his other tales. We got a sample of “Brown Bear, What Do You See?”, “10 Little Rubber Ducks” and “The Very Lonely Firefly” before the main event took place.
Cameo’s face lit up as soon as the opening lines from “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” dropped. “In the light of the moon…” was all he needed to hear to know that he was in for the show that we’d been hyping up for weeks. Throughout the show – 45 minutes in total – all the kids were properly engaged, because they had no choice. It was made for kids aged 2-6 and there was barely any time for them to take their eyes away from the action on the stage.
We can call it a successful trip because it was the perfect length and once it was done, there was a Caribbean food stall outside to keep us all happy.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show is touring country this year. They’re in the Troubadour White City Theatre throughout the summer holidays, but there are dates across the place (including Nottingham) later in the year.