Bluey’s Big Play review

The show’s protagonists are larger-than-life puppets, each controlled by two people. They are slightly clunky, lacking the nimbleness that theatre audiences have come to expect from puppetry, which means Bluey’s first appearance is not as magical as it might have been. But they still look the part, and kids will be happy enough to see their favourite characters in the flesh (so to speak). There’s even an appearance from Bluey’s toy Chattermax, which results in a rave-like sequence not dissimilar to last year’s Stick Song in Hey Duggee. It’s almost as though the team is aiming to repeat that production’s standout moments – not that anyone’s complaining: seeing an auditorium of kids bouncing in their seats never gets old.

Jonathon Oxlade’s cartoonish design is faithful to the animated series, and the characters are even voiced by the actors from the original TV show (Dave McCormack as Bandit and Melanie Zanetti as Chilli). They are pre-recorded, which means the performers on stage are there simply to manoeuvre the puppets. Would I have preferred live voices? Possibly.

But all in all, this is crowd-pleasing fun – for kids, and also for adults, whose pleasure derives largely from seeing the young punters enraptured for 45 minutes. As giant inflatable balls are sent bouncing out into the auditorium for the final moments, resulting in a mass game of keepy-uppy, everyone’s inner child is given free rein. And it’s joyful.

Bluey’s Big Play is on UK tour until September 1. Details: events.bluey.tv/