Teddy Bears’ Picnic, Rowntree Park, August 2020

If you go down to the park today, you’re sure of a big surprise!

“Every year Jo’s family used to have a big family gathering. A teddy bears’ picnic. It was brilliant. And then she got too old and too cool for that kind of thing. So she stopped going. But now she’s a grown up…kinda…she wishes she could have them all over again.”

Park Bench Theatre (via Engine House Theatre) have put performance back on the map with their production of Teddy Bears’ Picnic, inspired by the song and an original idea by Julian Butler. We took the mini Hatters along for some safe and socially distanced outdoor fun, after a five-month drought of live theatre…

Life’s a Picnic

Gone are the plush seats and interval ice-creams, replaced with spray-painted family ‘bubbles’ in a grassy clearing in York’s Rowntree Park. Headphones and wireless handsets ensure that everyone can hear, and these are available to purchase or families can bring their own.

We recommend the larger over-ear headphones for small children, who may find the in-ear buds a little uncomfortable and liable to pop out of tiny ears. The technology works well though, the sound is clear and works to draw the audience in.

Setting the Bench-mark

The set is little more than a real park bench, with props from several suitcases bringing the picnic scene to life.

Jo arrives with some tight and genuinely funny clowning, and soon the young audience are pointing and giggling away, clutching their own teddies with glee. What follows is thirty-minutes of the best kind of children’s theatre, creating magical moments with very little – engaging storytelling, minimal props and a highly expressive performance.

Cassie Vallance as Jo (also co-creator) is instantly likeable, warm and friendly. She has bags of energy and can illicit laughs with a single gurn or guffaw! She delivers some genuinely touching moments too, and I don’t mind saying that myself and Mrs Hatter became quite emotional. Perhaps this was in part through seeing live theatre again after all this time, or maybe it was how the text bravely and tactfully addresses the pandemic and the emotions it stirs up. Either way, the play tugs on the heartstrings…and a sequence about catching memories is especially touching. Director and co-creator Matt Aston gives the audience chance to ‘paws’ (sorry!) for thought between the laughs.

Our three-year-old and seven-year-old were entranced from start to finish, both hanging on Jo’s every word and willing the missing teddy to be found. It goes to show that there are ways around the government restrictions on live performance, and this innovative production felt safe and welcoming in uncertain times.

Soggy Sandwiches

Being an outdoor performance, the show is open to the unpredictability of The Great British Summer and will only be cancelled due to very extreme weather. A helpful hint from the Hatters is to bring waterproofs and wellies, be prepared! The heavens opened for us immediately after the show finished, during our post-show picnic.

It’s worth mentioning too that, as advised, we parked at Clifford’s Tower and found it a long walk for little legs to Rowntree Park. Pleasant by the river on a sunny day, but a wet and wild trundle back! The Tower car park can get very busy too, so allow extra time to find a spot and walk over. Once at Rowntree Park, the toilets and cafe are open and both are close to the action.

The show is well sign-posted, and volunteer stewards are on hand to help guide families to their bubbles, remind people when to put headphones in and explain how the technology works.

Bear with me…

There is something delightfully British and traditional about a teddy bear’s picnic, and this was a theatrical treat for all the family (especially little cubs!)

Never has supporting theatre been more crucial, so please do grab your teddies and a picnic and go down to the park this summer. We think you’ll enjoy it ‘beary’ much…

MAGIC RATING