A show for all ages is a rarer thing than marketing copy tends to suggest, but I Want My Hat Back achieves that aim with ease.Īt Temporary theatre, National Theatre, London, until 2 January. Wryly ad-libbing through the vocal responses of younger spectators, Larwood gives a brilliantly deadpan performance, which plays to two levels simultaneously. There’s plenty for the big kids in the audience too, from Arthur Darvill’s genre-hopping music to Joel Horwood’s book and lyrics, which retain Klassen’s concision and offer knowing winks to the adults. It’s a production that gets that kids understand pretending. Fly Davis’s DIY design has pot plants for trees and animal ears for costumes, while the chorus’s rapid changes of character often happen in full view. While everyone denies seeing it, a rabbit (. Wilson’s version lets young audiences in on its tricks, welcoming them on stage at the beginning and making few attempts to hide its make-believe. A somber, sepia-toned bear longs for his missing hat and questions a series of forest animals about its whereabouts. Bear’s attempts to track it down lead him through a series of encounters with his fellow forest inhabitants.

But when he leaves it unguarded in the forest, opportunistic Rabbit ( Steven Webb, with all the hyperactive energy he has brought to the Lyric Hammersmith’s pantomimes) is quick to snatch it up. Photograph: Richard Davenportīear ( Marek Larwood) loves his red, pointy hat. Patiently and politely, he asks the animals he comes across, one by one, whether they have seen it. Hyperactive energy … Steven Webb (Rabbit) in I Want My Hat Back. A New York Times Bestseller and Best Illustrated Book The bears hat is gone, and he wants it back.

I want my hat back review