Told the boys that we were going for a ride in the new car on Tuesday night.
We parked up and went for a short walk in the rain - into the Echo Arena. They started to twig when they saw the merchandise on sale. Bought a program and a couple of souvenirs, showed the tickets that I'd hidden away 6 months ago and then went to our seats on the floor of the Arena.
Samwise was absolutely gobsmacked. His mouth was wide open from start to finish. Frodo was a little put out that we'd tricked him, but perked up when he saw his favourite monsters.
The theme of the show was based on an old Jon Pertwee episode that I first saw on TV when I was 9 years old - Carnival of Monsters (and here I am taking my 9 year old son to see the sequel!).
Nigel Planar (Vorgenson) played the son of the chap (Vorg) who was shrinking creatures and putting them inside a machine for entertainment purposes. Vorgenson was up to much the same thing, giving an excuse to have several different creatures from the last series in one place.
Matt Smith wasn't there, but played his part from 'inside the Tardis' on a video screen, with the characters on stage interacting with the projection.
The monsters came thick and fast, entering from all sides of the arena and moving amongst the audience. We were in the back row, and most of them marched in right behind us. Ood, Silurians, Judoon, Clockwork Robots, Weeping Angels, Scarecrows, Vampires of Venice, Winders, Smilers, Cybermen and of course Daleks. Everyone was twisting and turning in their seats to see what was coming next and where from.
The Judoon scanned members of the audience to see if they were 'Hu-man'. Winston Churchill marvelled at a mobile phone, and asked the children of the future if they all had 'internets' at home. Queen Liz ran around the crowd firing her pistol. The Scarecrows shuffled around during the interval, posing for pictures, and staring at small children (most of whom' fended them off with the latest sonic screwdriver they'd brought with them).
The Weeping Angels (Frodo's favourite) were superbly presented. The Doctor told everyone 'Whatever you do Don't Blink!' and two Angel statues appeared. 3 'policemen' came in to investigate. The audience was then blinded with white light. When the light faded the Angels had moved, and a policeman had disappeared. This went on until the last policeman had gone and the image of a giant menacing Angel was over the audience.
Samwise loved the Cybermen, who marched in step right beside us, dragged an 'unsuspecting parent' out of the audience and deleted him, and then battled with the new Daleks onstage. We were treated to one of each of the new Dalek types. Samwise pointed that the white one hadn't appeared, then it did, flying overhead.
All of this was played out to the musical accompaniment of an orchestra conducted by Murray Gold - who was dressed like Matt Smith, but with David Tennant's hairstyle.
Speaking of which, when a montage of all the Doctor's was shown, there was a huge cheer for David Tennant's image!
More info at Doctor Who Live
In all, a superb family show, mind you there were plenty of adults there who hadn't brought any children along. Just wish we'd brought a sofa with us to hide behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment