The Wind In The Willows @ The Rep...@ The Crescent Theatre, Tuesday 4th December 2012

With both the new library development and The Rep’s overhaul nearing completion The Birmingham Repertory Theatre decamps to a temporary home again for its traditional Christmas show. Last year their version of The Snowman drifted in to the ICC, this year Toad, Ratty, Badger and Mole invade The Crescent Theatre in Alan Bennett’s adaptation of Wind In The Willows. Happily Bennett’s not messed with the original tail...whoops...tale too much, instead choosing to sprinkle in a few shots of his trademark humour and the odd slightly edgier twist for the grown-ups (who knew badger had a thing for mole eh?).

In line with The Crescent Theatre’s more homespun ethos the set’s a simple but effective affair and the producer’s have eschewed the heavy make-up of some previous productions in favour of a more human look to the characters. The costumes, props and casting help fill in the gaps nicely though with Badger in particular looking the part (nice two tone beard there Mr Pickavance).

 Anyone over the age of 3 will probably know the story off by heart but it never fails to entertain with each character pretty much a gift for any actor. This production’s cast rise to the challenge admirably with some surprisingly strong showings from some of the more minor characters too, notably Chris Nayak’s devastatingly dour Brummie horse Albert (“one carrot and they think you’re anybody’s”) and Michael Hugo’s Manc Weasel (sounding not unlike a slightly more sober Shaun Ryder). Elsewhere Nicholas Prasad nails the timid Mole, Oliver Hembrough is Niven-suave as Ratty and Robert Pickavance treads the fine line between the camp and the cantankerous as Badger.

The Wind In The Willows company

It’s Toad’s show of course and Matthew Douglas channels his best Christopher Biggins and Rik Mayall to achieve the perfect blend of the lovably pompous amphibian careering through life leaving chaos and wreckage in his wake, leaving friends Mole, Badger and Ratty to clear up the mess. Poop poop! Other noteworthy highlights included the neat touch of using the musicians in the show, each dressed in costume by the side of the stage, one of whom played a saw. You don’t get many saw players these days do you? Pretty cutting edge eh? (oh come on...it is panto season after all). The singing puppet baby field mice were also as cute as a...well...sack full of baby field mice, another great example of how something so simple can be most effective.

The whole thing’s a festive family treat from start to finish, with enough humour to keep all ages entertained, even without the aid of the delicious mulled wine in the interval! In fact you’d have to be in a particularly ‘ratty’ mood to leave without a smile on your face.

Wind In The Willows (a Rep production) is on at Crescent Theatre until 19th January.

For further information about the show visit the Rep's website or call 0121 236 4455.

Matthew Douglas as Toad The Wind in the Willows with The REP

Photo by Robert Day

If you enjoyed our review, Poop Poop! Watch out, watch out Toad’s about!

We have 1x family ticket to give away for The Wind In The Willows performance on Thursday 3 January at 7.30pm. What a lovely way to end the kids' Christmas holidays.

To be in with a chance of winning please just email your answer to this question to welovebearwood@googlemail.com.

We have been so inundated with entries that we have decided to open the competition so more people can enter.

All you have to do is answer the following question and send us your answer by Monday 17th December. Don't miss out......this is definitely one of the best Christmas  shows around.

Which mode of transport does Toad use to race around the countryside?

Is it:

a) A motorbike

b) A motor car

c) A helicopter

P.S. Did you know that....Birmingham Repertory Theatre will be celebrating is 100th birthday in February 2013. Imagine all those great actors and actresses who have treaded their boards.

As part of the plans to mark the landmark anniversary the Rep are asking for local people's treasured memories so as the theatre's not that far away from Bearwood we reckon fellow Bearwoodians will have lots of memories to share.

To collect and record these local memories, staff and volunteers from The REP will be camping out in Centenary Square during the Christmas season in a special REP100 Caravan.

REP100, a project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, will bring to life 100 years of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company. At the heart of the project is a new online archive,  which will feature thousands of photos, letters, posters and programmes from past productions and also audio memories from audiences, actors, directors and playwrights

Anyone who can’t make it to the REP100 caravan, but has a story to tell should go to REP 100 website or call 0121 245 2065.

Live Chat!

Just received this in our welovebearwood inbox! 

Sandwell Police Superintendent Bas Javid is going to be answering questions on a live webchat tomorrow evening between 5 - 6.30pm. 

So if you have any issues affecting you or your family which you would like to ask him please visit the Sandwell Local Policy website to find out how you can join in.

BBC Winter Good Food Show @ NEC 27th November – 1st December 2012

We were delighted that we were able to give our readers the chance to enter a competition to win tickets to this year’s BBC Good Food Winter Show at the NEC.  

We had a brillant time and hoped that everyone who won had as much fun as we did!

We popped along on Sunday, the last day of the show, and we were lucky enough to grab a seat for Gino DiCampo’s cookery demo at the Good Food Show Super Theatre. 

Part cookery lesson, part stand up DiCampo’s a huge hit with the ladies and he quickly made it his mission to seduce as many as possible...all in the best possible taste of course. He wasn’t the only one with lurve on his mind though.

One chap asked Gino to propose to his girlfriend on his behalf. Brave bloke! That kind of thing could so easily go wrong. Gino declined but stepped up to give him some moral support and the Good Food Show got its first ever live proposal (she said yes by the way!). YEAH!

Feeling suitably loved up we spent the rest of the day wandering through the halls sampling some of the best food and drink around and catching loads of useful cookery demonstrations. 

There’s something for everyone, with quick and easy fish dishes courtesy of The Saucy Fish Company (who make cooking with fish as easy as making a piece of toast) through to artisan bread, ethically farmed meat (Furness Fish and Game are highly recommended) and the finest wines and spirits you could wish for.

In no particular order we loved the Kent Cider Company’s Spiced Cider, Haymans Gin Liquer and Sipsmith’s Sloe Gin, there were some wonderful wines and whisky’s on offer as well...far too many to mention in fact!  

Samples are free and it’s an ideal way to taste stuff you might not otherwise try. Like Biltong for instance. Delicious! The perfect snack for the...er...well hung and meaty.

With Christmas just days away it’s also the perfect opportunity to stock up on all those essentials, cheese, crackers, gin...a bit more gin (yes, we do like our gin!) as well as the more luxurious stuff – we landed a side of proper Scottish smoked salmon that would feed an army for a tenner at the end of the day!

Speaking of bargains the Good Food Show hosts the World Cheese Awards and, at 4.30pm they sold off bags of the stuff for charity. It’s cheese heaven! We loaded up a large carrier bag with 7 or 8 different cheeses, chunks of chedder the size of house bricks for just £10.

Sure, we may end up growing tails and developing an aversion to next door’s pussy cat but it’s worth it!

Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to bump into Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, they were too busy baking, but we did see this year's winner John Whaite on The Great British Bake Off Stage giving away his best cake making tips.

By the end of the day we were laden down with delicious goodies and stuffed to the gills with freebies. Good Food Show glorious Good Food Show!