Out and About Mummy and family we’re lucky enough to have been invited to watch and review the Heartbreak Productions 2018 Summer Season at Fletcher Moss Botanical Gardens in Didsbury starting with The Midnight Gang. You can find out more information about the 4 shows this summer here including dates and prices.
We headed to the park with our picnic and blankets on an absolutely glorious day! We were one of the first people to get there and we soon setting up our own space. We were kindly offered premium seats which was lovely! We soon realised what a blessing in disguise as the area for blankets had no shade and with the heatwave we would have struggled with 3 young children. The area was fab and set up really well. Lots of shaded area for chairs and plenty of space for people with blankets. On any other weekend (not a heatwave) we would have been right at the front on our blankets!
We made ourselves comfortable and the kids soon tucked into their food! Even though we were quite early to get seated, there wasn’t time for the kids to get bored. Members of the cast made sure the kids were happy, Matron walked the audience and chatted with the children, George sold sweets and lollies from his tuck shop whilst Tom sold programmes. Sally and Amber were selling badges for the children for 50p, Joshua was very excited about going to buy one from near the stage.
The show soon started. For those of you who don’t know the story, The Midnight Gang tells the tale of 5 children who all meet whilst they are in the children’s ward of the Lord Funt Hospital. Whilst everyone else is sleeping, the Midnight Gang meet to make your dreams come true, but watch out for Matron! This adaptation of the David Walliam’s story book was written by David Kerby-Kendall and directed by Kristoffer Huball.
The show had plenty of mischief and laughter throughout, keeping the attention of all three of my children. I worried that we may need the pram in case my twins lost interest but they all really enjoyed it. There was plenty of singing and dancing, my son loved the occasionally dab and we even saw the floss being done!
Most of the cast played several characters and it was very cleverly done, I doubt my son even noticed! The costume changes were really fast and the show flowed nicely. There was plenty of interaction with the audience, the cast were extremely friendly. There was lots of cheering and audience participation, the cast even invited some of the audience onto the stage to play games.
Matron, played by Howard Scott Walker was probably one of the funniest characters. She was dressed outrageous like a theatre Dame should be, big hair, big bottom and even bigger bosom! The kids we’re even laughing at her or booing at her!
I picked up on a couple of great moral messages throughout the show. Porter, also played by Howard Scott Walker gave a moving speech about bullying, explaining how he’d been laughed at all his life. He spoke directly to the audience about how children and adults that bully others to make them sad, do it because deep down their sad about their own lives. Sally, played by Meg Chaplin was a child in the hospital. She was very poorly and had been at the Lord Funt hospital for some time, she at one point thought she would never leave the hospital. Whilst the other children dreamed about learning to fly, she dreamt about living a happy life! She talks about how life is precious and that we should live each day to it’s full potential. A lovely message for children and adults.
We had a fabulous time, the show was brilliant! We can’t wait for the next one………….
After the show we explored Fletcher Moss and the botanical gardens, have a read here and check out our lovely photos of the day.
Out and about mummy 