Review: The Storm Whale at Crucible Theatre

“…A fun-filled hour, jam-packed with entertainment…interactive and educational…”

The Storm Whale by Benji Davies, Crucible Theatre

By Sophie Dodworth

Back at The Crucible Theatre for another go at entertaining Sheffield families are Ensemble 360 and the wonderful Lucy Drever. With just a day this time at The Crucible, but after the success and rave reviews of The Giddy Goat, they are becoming quite the regulars with a crowd of returning little fans. If you listen closely, you can hear some of the whispers of ‘oh I can remember that lady from last time’ and many enthusiastically waiting to hear the Hello Song once again.

The story is written and illustrated by Benji Davies. We meet Noi, a young boy who lives with his dad and his six cats by the sea. One day he finds a baby whale washed up on the beach and takes it home to care for it, in secret. He keeps the whale in the bath and unsurprisingly, it isn’t long until his dad discovers the new member of the family. Noi’s dad ultimately manages to get Noi to feel happy about returning the baby whale back to the sea, and life lessons are made and welcomed.  

As with all the Ensemble 360 productions, there is a structure to the magical formula, the audience are first given the tools and encouragement to be able to sing and sign along to the songs that will be included in the story during the last part of the show. The delivery of this is appropriately slow, with repetitions and supportive praise each step of the way. The audience can then enjoy being able to join in with the story to finish off the show.

This production is a solid way to introduce children to orchestral music and authentic instruments. There isn’t much around like this in the current day of screens and high-energy activities, which unfortunately has become the norm for pre-schoolers; so, for Ensemble 360 to provide this series of introduction to the purest of music is a very welcome and significant piece of theatre.

Lucy Drever is perfect to narrate and host these sixty minutes of entertainment. She is animated and presents the piece with emotions in all the relevant places. She is engaging throughout with the ability to bring the kids back in when their minds start to wander to what’s for lunch or what snack is next. She uses a simple technique, and it seems to be so effective, leaving parents plotting their use of it later at home…

The orchestra has some wonderful talent in there, not just in the way of being able to play their instrument of choice so well, but they also help Lucy along with the interactive audience participation. There is a section where the crowd is encouraged to paint with their imaginary paint brushes, the musicians join in, and you are drawn to the French Horn musician, Naomi, she creates something almost tangible with the stroking of her ‘brush’ on to her canvas.

A fun-filled hour, jam-packed with entertainment for everyone, interactive and educational in many ways, you may leave with a little more knowledge of sign language or an eagerness to further research some of the composers you have had the pleasure of listening to.

The Storm Whale plays at Crucible Theatre on Saturday 11 October.

Sophie Dodworth is an experienced theatre reviewer. Prior to joining NAR she has written reviews for multiple review sites including The Reviews Hub, and sees reviewing as a lovely break from being a busy mum. Sophie has herself tread the boards, working full time as a professional singer many years ago and more recently in amateur productions.