A few weeks ago, my friend B sent me a link to The Chickenshed Theatre. Chickenshed is a registered charity and an all inclusive theatre company. You can read more about their history here. Although we went for a children’s show, I love the concept and idea behind this organisation. Based in a purpose built venue in Cockfosters, North London, performance is at the heart of everything they do.
Every so often they run something called Big Tales Day out which is a combination of different workshops. It runs from 2:30pm-5pm so it’s a pretty long afternoon for the little ones. We’d seen some nice weather in May so we were quite excited to be going on the 23rd of May and were hoping the finale would be out in their Amphitheatre. But of course, living in the UK, you can never really depend on the weather. It was pouring buckets and so the whole event was held indoors.
The afternoon went something like this:
2:30pm Meet and greet
2:45pm Tales Warm up and Intro
3:00pm Storytelling with Wendy from Story Boat – It was a folk tale from Africa about Anancy the spider. Wendy is quite the storyteller.
3:25 Short Break for changeover
3:35 The children helped enact the story of Goldilocks and the three bears with a Tales Spin
4:00pm Short Break
4:15pm Festival Finale
5:00pm End
As it was quite late, we decided to stay there and feed the kids dinner. They have quite a nice café and a good selection of food and drinks for both kids and adults. Meemo and S had a bit of a run around in the amphitheatre before we left.
I have to be honest and say that S didn’t enjoy himself as much as I thought he would but I don’t think that’s a reflection on Cowshed. He just wasn’t feeling it that day. They were pretty entertaining and at only £8 a ticket, very reasonable as well. Babies under 1 go free.
If you fancy going and you’re in the London area, they’ll be at Hyde Park from the 22nd to the 25th of June. Tickets are free but you need to book in which you can do here. Hopefully the weather will be nice and it’ll be a fun family day out.
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Sounds like a great afternoon. Shame about the weather but at least they had a plan B.
Sometimes I’m sure my two will love our plans but they also just don’t seem to ‘feel’ it on the day. That’s little ones huh, so unpredictable! Still sounds like a good day thought lovely x
They’re doing a gig in Hyde Park later this month. It’s free, you just have to register. I may take him…I think having it outdoors will make a huge difference to S. He’s not a fan of dark rooms…and I don’t blame him. Fingers crossed for good weather 🙂
What a fabulous idea, I wish we lived closer as would love to have gone to Hyde Park. Shame the weather meant it had to be held inside x
We may go just because I think S would love the entertainment outdoors. Thanks for reading and commenting xx
Ah we live right by Chickenshed and have been a few times now for Tales of the Shed. I totally get what you mean about the little ones “not feeling it” sometimes (I mean in general not just for this). We haven’t been to a Big Day Out yet but keep meaning to go.
#TriedTested
They’re doing one at Hyde Park next weekend (26th and 27th) and it’s free, you just have to register with them. If the weather holds I think it’d be fun x
Sounds fab, my monkey is a bit young for this at the moment but will bookmark for future use 🙂 thank you for sharing #triedtested