Popular children’s book hits Manila stage

The most popular children’s book in the English-speaking world for kids seven and below will come to life in the Rockwell Tent this Friday.

“It’s the Harry Potter for four-year-olds,” says Matthew Gregory, executive producer of the Hong Kong-based ABA Productions, which is bringing the show in from the UK. “It’s so popular.”

The book in question is The Gruffalo, written by beloved children’s author Julia Donaldson, and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.

My daughter Isobel, who’s 10, is in the upper reaches of The Gruffalo’s target audience, but I recently bought her the board book at National Book Store, and I could see her reverting back to her six-year-old self as she listened to me read her the adventures of a mouse who, through sheer smarts, manages to outwit predators like a fox, an owl and a snake while walking through the woods.

The Gruffalo, jointly produced by ABA and Tall Stories (UK), recently enjoyed a successful run in the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), where it played to packed houses twice a day as part of Hong Kong’s annual “Kids Fest!”

I saw The Gruffalo’s Saturday noontime show at HKAPA and was pleasantly caught between families with young kids who had the book memorized and were obviously thrilled to see it playing out before them onstage.

“We always have every single word from the book in the right order in the show,” notes Gregory. “And you’ll find that in every single show from Julia Donaldson’s books. The reason for that is so that no one is disappointed. Everyone gets what they think they’re going to get.”

With a simple set, only three actors playing different roles and costumes that merely hint at the animal being portrayed, I like how the The Gruffalo encourages young imaginations to work instead of spoon-feeding them everything. There are catchy songs, a fair bit of audience interaction, and actor Dan Foxsmith, who plays the various predators, has a Sacha Baron Cohen vibe going on — his portrayal of the snake is hilarious. The production, like the book, is charming, clever and classic.

“Tall Stories embellished the story, worked out the characters of the fox and the snake, fleshed them out and put in songs,” Gregory says. “We prefer to do books that are turned into stage shows than TV programs turned into stage shows, our theory being — especially in Asia where parents are very busy — you go home in time to put your kids to bed and read them a story. You don’t go home in time to watch a TV program with them. And if we can bring these books to life onstage, then the parents will share the experience with their kid, rather than just sending them with their helper or nanny to go see it.”

True enough, when the show let out an hour later, I saw a lot of fathers flying solo with their tots, which was surprising. “Even on a weekday at 5 o’clock there’s a lot of dads because they want to make an effort to share the experience with their young kids,” Gregory says.

Gregory and ABA, which also brought productions of other children’s books like Room on the Broom, Ruthless Romans, Barmy Britain and Mr Benn to Kids Fest!, are based in Hong Kong, but before you can start envying HK’s cultural riches for kids, know that two culturally minded young Filipino mothers approached Gregory so he could bring The Gruffalo to the Philippines.

Alicia Colby Sy and Bambi Sy, now ABA’s sales and marketing consultants for Manila, approached Gregory after two years of flying in to Hong Kong to watch his plays.

“I try to do something educational wherever we go, not just shop and eat,” says Bambi. “I do my research.”

One weekend they were in Hong Kong and saw another ABA children’s production, and were so charmed by it they decided it had to be brought to Manila. “It was so perfect for young kids,” says Alicia.

“After two years they got the courage to come and say hello,” says Gregory, “and we talked about why we hadn’t done it in Manila yet. I said simply because we don’t have the right people to work with on the ground, and we don’t have the venues. The first time is always the hardest, but it gets a lot easier after that. Because once you get people understanding what you do, then you can get on with actually trying to bring shows in.”

Hopefully The Gruffalo in Manila will be the first of many over the next few years, and not just children’s theater. Gregory, who studied English and Drama at Cambridge University and whose past productions include Hamlet, Waiting for Godot, and Peter Pan at the CCP in Manila, has just confirmed that ABA is bringing in Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre from London to Hong Kong and Singapore for the first time, performing in September at HKAPA’s larger, 1,100-seat theater, and in Singapore outdoors at Fort Canning Park in October. “This is a very major event for us and for them, because it’s their first time to do something like this, and we hope it can become an annual event as well,” Gregory says.

Coincidentally he’ll also be bringing in the Reduced Shakespeare Company to Hong Kong in October, doing The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). “We hope to have The Woman in Black here as well from the West End in December,” he says. “It’s not about making money. It’s about is it world-class and a good experience for everybody involved.”

The Gruffalo will only have seven shows in Manila: one on Friday, Feb. 15, three on Saturday, Feb. 16, and three on Sunday, Feb. 17. I’m hoping this is just the start of many more fun, educational experiences for our children, and that Isobel will enjoy seeing Mouse and The Gruffalo in the flesh, even if she is on the verge of young adulthood.

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The Gruffalo will show at the Rockwell Tent from Feb. 15-17. Tickets can be bought at all TicketWorld outlets, online at www.ticketworld.com.ph or by calling 891-9999.