Review: The Elmer Adventure (Soho Theatre Walthamstow)

Review by Hywel Farrow-Wilton 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Now that the Christmas holidays have started, most parents will be looking for a new way to keep their children entertained once they’ve cycled through the entire back catalogue of Bluey episodes for the hundredth time. Thankfully, there is a solution in the form of The Elmer Adventure by Tall Stories at Soho Theatre Walthamstow. A heartwarming, ‘seriously silly’ show about unashamedly celebrating differences and learning to lend a hand to those in need, it is brought to life by a tight ensemble of three very talented performers, some impressive puppetry and just a little bit of help from the audience. 

If you ask anyone who went through Reception in a British Primary School, they are sure to be familiar with the story of Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. As I’m sure most people know, Elmer is one of the great Primary School literary characters of the last few decades, up there alongside other greats such as The Gruffalo, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and of course Biff, Chip and Kipper. Tall Stories specialise in adapting children’s books for the stage and have found great success in recent shows, including adaptations of The Smeds and the Smoos, The Gruffalo’s Child (currently playing at the West End’s Lyric theatre) and The Gruffalo. The company was founded in 1997 by Toby Mitchell and Olivia Jacobs and began making theatre for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. They have since gone on a meteoric rise, playing in venues all over the world and have even been nominated for Olivier Awards for several of their shows. 

The Elmer Adventure is an adaptation of three books from the Elmer series originally written by David McKee, namely ‘Elmer’, ‘Elmer and the Tune’ and ‘Elmer and the Hippos’. While there is no one credited as the ‘writer’ of the show, this exemplifies how much of an ensemble-driven story the show is. There are, however, credited ‘Original Devisers’ Jack Benjamin, Amelia Gabriel, Frankie Turton, Rachel Pryce and Lucie Warren, whose work has been further developed by the current cast alongside Tall Stories Artistic Director Toby Mitchell, also serving as the director of this production.

The show finds a new narrative frame to tell Elmer’s stories through its three central characters, two unnamed children and their equally unnamed father. The setting is that the children have heard tales of a patchwork elephant called Elmer who roams the jungle and have come to find him. Having spent the last few days camping out, they have yet to find any trace of Elmer, and so on their last evening before going home, they tell the audience their three favourite Elmer stories. The writing is simple but very engaging and, importantly, easy to follow for the children, with a few fun ‘jokes for the adults’ thrown in for good measure. Crucially, they manage to capture the magic spark of McKee’s original books, retaining the key themes of embracing diversity and helping others in a child-friendly way.

To complement the storytelling, there are several original songs with Music and Lyrics by Matthew Floyd Jones. The music is a pleasing mixture of musical theatre, nursery rhyme and even some doo-wop thrown in. Since the show is playing over the Christmas holidays, there are even a few moments of classic Christmas sing-along, which are good fun but did feel rather shoe-horned in just to give the show a bit of a Christmassy feel that, in all honesty, it didn’t really need. However, the original songs are great fun to sing along to. There are some really ‘punny’ rhymes in Jones’ lyrics, and I even found myself walking away from the show humming the tune of ‘Elephant Parade’. Like many of the animals, I couldn’t get Elmer’s tune out of my head!

Toby Mitchell manages to nail the charm and wonder of the original Elmer stories, bringing him to life in a glorious explosion of colour. Also equally enjoyable are the various nods to pantomime peppered throughout the show, so that children who are too young to sit through a full-length panto can still enjoy the whimsical theatrical oddities of the panto tradition, such as responding to the performers, singing and dancing in their seats, and passing giant, floating balls around the auditorium. 

Set and Costume Design by Amanda Mascarenhas does a fantastic job of bringing a DIY aesthetic to the show. The costuming is a great example, where they use reversible jackets and jungle hats to show the different colours of the elephants and use puffer jackets and raincoats for the hippo and crocodile. The effect is imaginative and displays one of Tall Stories’ promises to keep things simple so that children CAN try this at home. The jungle setting is vibrant and has a nice fluidity to it, with dangling green ribbons in place for vines and blue ribbons to show the river that the hippos drink from. The result is very colourful and very cartoonish, like you have just stepped into one of the book’s illustrations. 

However, the absolute highlight of the show is getting to see Elmer actually on stage in front of you. The puppet is designed by Yvonne Stone, and is absolutely stunning. When Elmer appeared on stage, there was an audible collective intake of breath from not just the children but the adults, too. The whole audience was entranced by the beautiful lumbering steps, and the heavy swing of his trunk was brought to life by two of the cast members who puppeteered him. It’s a truly magical moment to see such an iconic childhood character come to life in front of you in such a glorious way.

The three-strong cast are a pleasure to watch and have a great fizzing dynamic between them that lends itself well to the child-friendly tone of the show. As well as their ‘narrator’ characters, they each take it in turns to play Elmer as well as all the other jungle animals that appear in the stories. Amelia Gabriel plays one of the children and she leaps about the stage with hyperactive energy, racing between playing the guitar and swapping out different jackets and hats to play all the animals with great childlike glee.

Millie Elkins-Green plays the other child and finds a nice alternative to the explosive energy of Gabriel. Her characterisation has a calmer, more understated energy but still finds great joy in bringing the story to life. Rounding off the cast is Spencer Lee Osborne as their father. He has an old-school ‘twinkle-in-the-eye’ quality that shows that his character, despite being an adult, still knows how to be silly and embrace the magic of being a child. All of them exude the spirit of silliness that defines Tall Stories, making them great storytellers that children will be excited to listen to and engage with. 

The Elmer Adventure is truly a magical treat for all the family this Christmas. Tall Stories has managed to pull it off again, creating a show that is sure to thrill both the young and the young at heart. This close to Christmas, most just want to see something light and heartwarming, and Elmer delivers this in spades. It is also a great lesson for children and a great reminder for adults to not take themselves so seriously and that ‘sometimes… You have to be a bit silly.

The Elmer Adventure plays at Soho Theatre Walthamstow until 4th January. Tickets from https://allthatdazzles.londontheatredirect.com/play/the-elmer-adventure-tickets

Photos by Mark Senior