Normally writing a review is a careful balancing process weighing up good against bad and trying to give a balanced view, but this isn’t the case with The Cornerstone Arts Centre’s Emily Brown and the Thing. I could even, if I were feeling very lazy, sum it up into one brief, yet to the point, sentence: go and see this play.
We’re spoilt, in Oxfordshire, with great arts centres and small theatres showing some really great quality productions, especially around Christmas time. Didcot is within easy striking distance of where we live which is why we’re so lucky that they feature productions as excellent as this. Based on the book of the same name by Cressida Cowell, of ‘How to train your dragon’ fame, Emily Brown and the Thing is a charming, light hearted piece of theatre from Tall Stories that appeals to the very young right through to adults. We were nervous at taking the one year old Girl along to live theatre, but she sat, entranced, for the entirety, even joining in with some of the interactive parts and swaying along to the music.
