Relaxed – Thurs 31st Dec 2015
By Jeannette | December 31, 2015
We are very lucky to live just a 30 minute bus ride away from town. It’s close enough that a whizz in and out for gift or other shopping is very achievable in a morning when the children are at school and, at the same time, far enough away for us not to be affected by anything mega happening in town (Bank Holiday music festival traffic aside).
Today we (D and I) hopped onto a bus because we were heading to the pantomime. With a difference this year because we were attending a “relaxed” performance, specifically advertised as SN friendly.
A “relaxed” performance is one in which the house lights aren’t dimmed quite so much, the music isn’t as loud and if the children want to shout, dance or stand up and watch, that’s fine because everyone there knows that SN children don’t always sit still, get extremely excited and want to enjoy it, especially when the star is Justin Fletcher aka Mr Tumble.
To say D was looking forward to it was an understatement! This was her on the bus going in:
She loved it. Wasn’t so keen on the walking there amongst strangers or the leaving and heading into a (by then) busy town centre but inside the theatre…
She sang along, she clapped, she cheered, she boo-ed. She cackled with laughter at some very slapstick moments and really quite intensely disliked the villian (King Rat).
It was wonderful to see. Fantastic to know that she could engross herself totally in the show without fear of being told to “sit still” or “quieten down” as I imagine she may have been during a non-relaxed show.
We’ve been extremely lucky to go to the pantomime 3 out of 4 times in recent years and the “relaxed” showing is definitely the performance to go for, it suited her very well.
Mr Tumble was fab by the way, he first appeared on a little scooter to the “Gigglebiz” theme tune and was definitely the main attraction. There was a traditional dame too, an extremely funny one. D’s favourite memory from today involved the Dame and Mr T chasing each other around with foam flans and the Dame falling over and his hairpiece flying off, not once but twice. Mine has to be the Dame performing a la Tina Turner to “River Deep, Mountain High”, exaggerated dancing et all. Wonderful.
It’s given D plenty to chat about and this chat saw her through that busy, busy town, having lunch out and then getting a busy bus home.
Yep, we can definitely recommend both the pantomime and the relaxed performance, we’ll be back next year.
The only downside was that we were high up in the back row of the balcony and therefore my one picture isn’t brilliant. Mr T is just to the right in a gold and red suit.
Happy New Year, whatever you do, however you spend it, be happy, keep safe and see you in 2016 Jx
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