Our 2 and a half year old is obsessed with In the Night Garden! Aren’t all toddlers? Even my husband and I enjoy the show and not just because it indicates bed time is on the way ;). Of course the show is utter nonsense, very Alice-in-Wonderland-esque in that regard. But it’s nonsense in the most delightful way, with loveable characters and mesmerising music.
I wondered how they could possibly recreate this wonderfully insane world on the stage. But when we saw that In the Night Garden Live had another run in Manchester, we decided to go along and figure it out for ourselves.
We watched the Ninky Nonk show which started at 10am.
Prices
We paid £14.50 for each ticket (the same price for children and adults).
The Show Dome at Manchester Trafford Centre
The show dome at the Trafford Centre is placed in an overflow car park, so you can park right outside it. There was plenty of space to park when we visited today.
The dome is fabulous. The building at the entrance is where you can buy merchandise and snacks and then there’s a walk into the dome itself.
It’s hugely spacious. There are no seats, but instead 13 large stepped rows. This makes the whole place really quite spacious and ideal for tots moving around etc.
The lighting is great – ambient without ever being so low that children feel any fear.
In the Night Garden Live – Our Review
Our son absolutely loved this show. He was a tad quiet at the outset, perhaps overwhelmed. But by 10 minutes in he was on his feet singing and shouting out where Iggle Piggle’s blanket was!
The staging is amazing and the show itself very clever.
Full size characters exist and so too do small puppet sized ones so that the perspective works when they’re interacting with one another.
You realise just how spectacular the music really is in a stage setting and Derek Jacobi’s familiar narration finishes it off perfectly.
Here are a few pictures from our day. Our tot’s face pretty much sums up exactly how much he loved the show. We’ll definitely go back at some point to see the Pinky Ponk version of the show.
