The Kingdom Under My Bed

We arranged for an extended family outing to the Esplanade for the kids catch a PLAYtime! production called "The Kingdom Under My Bed".  I didn't realise that PLAYtime! productions were put up by various theatre companies.  This time around, it was Teater Ekamatra, a different group from the one which did The Magic Island.  I felt that it was not as good as The Magic Island.  The storyline was complicated, there were very many characters, the actors sometimes spoke too quickly and with poor pronunciation, and some characters (one in particular) seemed to scare plenty of the kids (they started wailing and crying when that character came out!  Aidan let known his opinion by simply raising his hand and saying, "Stop!").  The parts that appealed more were probably when there were songs, and when they showed some shadow-puppetry.  Ironically, the character that stuck the most in Asher's mind was the bunny rabbit, who was actually a character created to allow the backstage guy to bring props on and off the stage. 

Next time, I'll make sure to find out who is putting up the PLAYtime! performance before deciding to go for the show.

After the performance, we had lunch together before hanging out by the bay area.  Good thing there were 6 adults, and we could take turns making sure the kids didn't trip on the steps and tumble into the water! :)  And as it was a super hot day, and ice cold fruit slushes from Chill Out! were the perfect remedy.  I like that the slushies are made from pure fruit juice, so even though they are a little bit pricey, you feel like you're having a healthy option while cooling down.

There's the merlion!  (But they're pointing in diff directions, hmm)

Making sure they don't topple into the bay :)

The IR looming behind

Merlion in the distance

We should be paid for these series of pics!  Free advertising - endorsement by kids!

Stuck to their straws.  Anya looking very demure here :)

 Stripey Father & Son :)

Toybox

Brought Asher for a Toybox performance at Loewen Gardens with Del & Anya.  We had just gone there over the weekend for the farmer's market, and I was looking forward to the outing cos I like the place.  There was a tent set-up over the formerly open area specially for the event, and mats laid on the ground as seating.  Quite a cosy set-up.  And it was packed! 

The duo, Reuben and Mark are animated and funny, and I felt they put up a good performance filled with engaging action songs that really got the kids moving.  Anya was absolutely adorable!  She moves to any beat, and was bouncing and bobbing away to the music :)  Asher was looking for Incy Wincy now and then after the performance, cos the little spider had climbed up to the top of the tent during one of the songs, but there was no mention of it coming back down :)

Think the kids enjoyed it.  Very happy we went!

"The ants go marching one-by-one, HURRAH!"

Checking out the Bob the Builder mat after the show

The Magic Island

Brought Asher to catch PLAYtime's The Magic Island at the Esplandae Theatres after school.  I thought that it was a good production in that the storyline was kept simple, the characters sufficiently engaging, and it was obvious the children enjoyed the programme.  Plus, the tickets aren't that expensive at $15.

The Recital Hall was set up with a platform in the middle (the island), four marked out areas for parents and children to sit, four more 'islands' in the outer perimeter, and a platform in front which, I suppose, was a hill. 

Basically the story is about a little girl who visits her big sister, and during her week-long visit tries to make friends with the animals she meets.  She eventually makes friends with Baby Monkey, Baby Tiger and Sally the vegetarian singing Snake.  It brings the children through a series of adventures such as a journey to Coconut Island, to Starfish Island, and learning how to swim. 

Asher was engaged throughout the performance, and I had to catch him back several times when he wanted to wander onto the stage, or didn't want to come back to my lap after an interactive portion where the children actually were allowed to go on stage :)  He particularly like Baby Tiger, and after the performance we walked around Esplanade looking for Baby Tiger to say hello.  I think he had fun, at least, he nodded his head when I asked him after if he did :)

Will definitely try to go for their other performances next time.

As usual, when we're at the Esplanade, we headed to the bayside to see the Merlion and watch the boats go by.  That day there were canoes, and even better, two eagles soaring above.  They even swooped down a couple of times to catch fish!  What a treat to watch.

Trying to be an eagle

 

We ended the outing with dinner at Ichiban Boshi.  The food there is always decent for the price, and I really like some of their sushi items.  I ordered an unagi-tofu-tempura set to share with Asher, and a side order of cha soba.  The set was hearty and I was happy with the variety of dishes it came with.  Besides the three mentioned above, it also came with miso soup, some pickles, chawanmushi, a bowl of rice and oranges.  The portion of unagi was generous and they gave an entire slab of tofu!  Asher eventually only wanted to munch some of my tempura, but walloped the soba, a mound of rice, the entire bowl of chawanmushi and the oranges.  Didn't realise he would like chawanmushi so much! 

Overall, a good outing :)

Mousetrap

I went to catch the play The Mousetrap, the longest running show on West End, and in the world. It's based on the murder mystery by Agatha Christie.

Very well delivered, the actors managed to bring out the idiosyncrasies of their characters. I had a fun time trying to figure out who did it. So many possibilities, everyone could have motive... I did suspect the right person, but wasn't completely sure until the end.

So....to solve the mystery, the murderer is....

Nahhh. I can't tell you! Go watch the play or read the book yourself! :)
We were sworn to secrecy after the show.

Anyway, I felt like a senior citizen that afternoon cos every other person attending the play was elderly and silver-haired. It was quite sweet, they'd buy ice-cream and eat it together during the interval. They'd hold hands. Aww..

Boeing Boeing

Yesterday we went to watch the play Boeing Boeing at the Comedy Theatre near Leicester Square. It was Jon's first trip down to the Leicester Square area :)


Quite a hilarious comedy, premised on a casanova having 3 fiancees at the same time! All air stewardesses. He chose his ladies by carefully studying the flight timetables to make sure that at any one time, one is arriving, one is in mid air, and one is in some other country. Anyway, the arrival of the "Super Boeing" which shortens flight times basically screws up this careful calculations :)

The Italian actress was quite hot man, heh. Reminded me a bit of Eva Longoria - petite with a perfect figure. The funniest 2 characters of the night must be the German air stewardess, Gretchen, who was absolutely hilarious; and Robert, the old schoolmate of the casanova, who was a perfect comical blend of awkward, blur, and witty all at the same time =)

Hopefully we'll be going for many more of these artsy things here in London!! Ballets lah, plays lah, movies lah, musicals, etc etc etc.

Speaking of movies, while waiting for him to come, I was squeezing with the crowd at the sidelines of the red carpet premiere launch of Eastern Promises. I saw Naomi Watts in the distance...really quite a distance. Was looking over the shoulder of some British dude, who was standing behind a barracade, which was half a metre behind a 2 metre high fence, which was 2 metres behind another barracade, behind another bunch of people, and then add 15 to 20 metres.

Actually I had never even heard of the movie until yesterday.

Here's the link to an article on the event:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/london_film_festival/article2685576.ece