I remember my first trip to the theatre. I was about eight, and I got hit in the face by a finger of fudge thrown from the stage by a particularly overzealous am-dram Widow Twankey. It was an inauspicious start to what would become a lifelong passion.
Despite the confectionary-based assault, I’m now a theatre writer; and, fortunately, my wife is a theatre lover, too. When we had our son, we agreed that it was important he should experience the theatre from early on, and I began mentally planning his first visit, determined for it to be more enjoyable than mine.
But when would be the right time to take him? And what sort of production should we take him to? He’d enjoy a show based on a book or TV programme he likes, but there is also a plethora of smaller, more intimate, more affordable productions.
While we were fortunate enough to be able to get him used to theatre early on — at the age of three and a half — it’s worrying how few children experience live performance before they are forced to by their school. Of course, by then it’s ‘boring’ and ‘stupid’ and it’s not cool to like it.
However, there are some easy do’s and don’ts that should help any parent get their child used to the theatre before they are lost to their friends and artificial apathy.
DO leave your bourgeois ideas at home. It might please you to be able to say, ‘Of course, her first theatre experience was Simon Russell Beale’s Lear.’ But if Peppa Pig is what it takes to pique her interest, then park the prejudices. But…
DON’T assume your child can’t handle something more cerebral. I took my boy to see Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom (made by the same people as Peppa Pig, it tells the stories of various fairies, elves and their pet insects.
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