The Lowry theatre’s pop-up dome-like theatre space the Roundabout hosted Our Teacher’s A Troll, but disappointly no costumed monster appeared.
The pop-up theatre was a refreshing change with circular seating and no scenery at all, bar a microphone in the middle of the tent.
Large circular lights in the ceiling would act as the troll, along with two absolutely fantastic actors who blended in with the rest of the audience.
Before the show started Sian Reese-Williams and Abdul Salis introduced themselves to the children in the audience and it wasn’t long before they became every character in the story, changing their voices, accents and tone.
To some of the younger ones this was a little confusing and they could certainly lose track of who was meant to be whom.
The stars of the show are terrible twins Holly and Shaun who like to cause mayhem, but they come up against new headteacher Mr Rarrrarrarrarrar who knocks down the playground and builds a gold mine for the children to work in, giving them only sprouts and peanut butter to eat.
The pair know the new headteacher is a troll, but no-one believes them. They tell their mum, a policeman and even the prime minister but no-one takes them seriously.
After their mischievous antics – putting worms in sandwiches, mud in shoes and constantly asking, “Why?” – gets a teacher a three friends gobbled up by Mr Rarrrarrarrarrar, our heroes decide enough is enough and confront the troll in his own language.
It’s not long before Holly and Shaun force Mr Rarrrarrarrarrar’s to change his ways, rewarded with a gold statue of themselves in the school for everyone to see.
The best part of the show was the audience participation with clapping, stamping feet and even ‘speaking’ in troll – it was lovely to see so many joining in and having fun.
I really enjoyed the show but my 9-year-old son was not as impressed as he was expecting an array of actors, dressed up in costume and was slightly disappointed there was no troll.
