In the Night Garden Live – Birmingham Cannon Hill Park

If you have a In the Night Garden fan, they are likely to love In the Night Garden Live.

In the Night Garden Live is a stage production featuring all the main characters from In the Night Garden. The show is held in a special inflatable showdome which kind of made me think of inflated parts of a snowman…or even the Michelin man!

Described as:

…an amazing musical theatre experience for all the family. Children’s favourite CBeebies’ stars – Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka and friends – are all brought beautifully to life on stage using full-size costumes, magical puppets, enchanting music and breathtaking projections.

You have the choice of two shows:

Ninky Nonk Show
Igglepiggle loses his blanket and all his friends help him find it.

Pinky Ponk Show
Makka Pakka washes everyone’s faces, until his sponge gets stuck in Upsy Daisy’s megaphone!

Last year we took Bee to see the Pinky Ponk show and when In the Night Garden Live offered us the chance to see a show again this year we of course picked the Ninky Nonk Show.

All the characters are in both shows so you simply need to pick which one you want to watch…or watch both!

Seating

You have the choice of premium and standard seating. Premium means you get to sit in the first 5 rows. Is it worth the extra price? Last year I purchased the premium seats and sat in the second row. We were closer to the characters on stage but to be honest, even sitting in the standard seats this time, we got a pretty good view. The seats are pretty much large steps (carpeted) and towards the end of the show can start to feel a bit uncomfortable.

Seats are not allocated in advance. So if you do go for standard tickets then it is best to get there early if you want to be closer to the stage rather than at the back. But with only about 13 rows even the back doesn’t seem a huge distance away.

The Show

The show lasts just under an hour which is ideal for the little ones. You could sense some of them getting a bit restless towards the end. The showdome did this time feel a bit stuffy and by the end of the show we were glad to get out into the cooler part.

The show itself is a mixture of puppets being controlled by people dressed in green outfits, and full size characters. The Ninky Nonk made an appearance a couple of times on the stage but the Pinky Ponk and the Hoo Haa’s along with the birds were projected onto the wall of the showdome.

Prices

Prices can vary and are cheaper the earlier you book. And there are often discounts available at the start when the tickets are released…so this could then give you a good price. Weekend shows also can be a bit more pricey…with premium tickets at £30 (standard £17.50). The cheapest I have noticed is £12.50 for a standard seat for the final evening performance on some days. Baby’s under 6 months are charged £1 and both children and adult tickets are priced the same.

If you want to do a meet and greet with Upsy Daisy or Iggle Piggle then that will cost an extra £15 (£30 if you want to see both).

You also have the option to purchase a goody bag that contains £64 worth of products, this will cost £29 if booked and paid for in advance…or £39 on the day. We did purchase the goody bag last year and Bee loved it. However if you do not want all the items, they are available to purchase individually.

If you decide to purchase all the items then clearly it can end up costing quite substantially for an hours entertainment. However it is a unique experience for the little ones and you could clearly see and hear the excitement as the characters came out on to the stage, in particular Upsy Daisy!  The kids were also in awe of seeing the projections on the wall of the showdome.

You can see snippets of the show in the video:

It is still not to late to see the show. In the Night Garden Live is in Birmingham until 30th July before moving on to Manchester from 5th August to 28 August 2017. You can get more information and purchase tickets from their website: In the Night Garden Live.

Disclosure: We were sent tickets for the purposes of review. All thoughts and opinions are our own. Photos used in blog post were taken in the 2016 show.