This weekend, starting with Thursday, has been a major focus on Ellie's exposure and enjoyment of the performing arts, starting with Little Angel Theatre for Thursday's Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, which scared her a bit with the finger pricking, but was greatly relieved that the prince found the princess and woke the kingdom!
In both puppet shows, which included next day's hilarious Dogs Don't Do Ballet that also relaxed her wonderfully, she was thrilled to enjoy the Cadbury chocolate buttons. Ellie seemed to have a mix of relief and feeling grown up when the first puppet show had an interval, and then again for the ballet and the play the following two days.
Admittedly the Wind in the Willows was somewhat selfish as it was a favourite childhood story for me, and then it was being offered by the Royal Opera House in the Duchess Theatre, so no complaints for getting Ellie into a West End theatre! I silently wept to miss out on some wonderful shows that I would have loved, such as Lawrence Fox playing Strangers on a Train, but when Ellie's school allowed her to come for these nine days, I was personally determined that they remain focused on what Ellie would enjoy. Besides, how could I ever complain about Wind in the Willows?
I knew that the right priorities had been made when Ellie announced at the end of Friday, which had Dogs Don't Do Ballet in the afternoon and Wind in the Willows that evening (with a cupcake interlude between), that it was the "awesomest awesome day ever!!!!"
*grin* Correct decisions made!
Lastly, but certainly not least in this tirade of London performing arts focused solely on children was Polka Theatre's Alice in Wonderland. Despite being all the way down in Wimbledon, and despite the fact that Ellie started shaking violently when it appeared that Alice was going to die at the hand of the Queen of Hearts, it would seem that the entire afternoon dedicated to the play / musical was well worth it as Ellie announced it was fine after all since it was just Alice's dream, and that she got ice cream during the interval.
Sometimes I worry that my 200 quid for all these shows will be remembered only for the snacks during the intervals.
