Latest news with #JurassicWorld:TheExhibition
West Australian
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Peppa Pig's Fun Day Out Live! touring to The Regal Theatre starring West Leederville WAAPA graduate Zoe Crisp
Peppa Pig's Fun Day Out Live! director and writer Richard Lewis likens the stage show's titular character as the Taylor Swift for children. West Leederville-raised, WA Academy of Performing Arts musical theatre graduate Zoe Crisp absolutely agrees, having taken on the role in the Australian production currently touring the nation. 'She truly is a celebrity for kids,' the 25-year-old, Melbourne-based performer says. 'It's such a joy playing Peppa. She's outspoken and she's got a bit of attitude on her, which I think is quite reflective of that age of being four years old and finding your voice. It's quite fun being able to play a four-year-old to an audience full of four-year-olds.' Having grown up watching Peppa Pig herself with her surf-loving twin brother Harry, Crisp says they easily connected with Peppa and George's sibling relationship. 'My brother was quite a shy child, and I was very outspoken,' Crisp, who attended John Curtin College of the Arts, explains. 'I think it's just so relatable for everyone. It focuses on everyday family life, and I think parents can relate to it, children can relate to it, it doesn't matter where you're from. It's very simple, lovely storytelling.' While the production does not include the youngest member joining the TV series' Peppa Pig family this year, which has been on our screens since 2004, it does feature exactly what it states in the show's title — a fun day out. 'We go to the zoo, we go to the beach, we see all sorts of animals, there's a dancing scarecrow and we jump in some puddles,' Crisp says. 'It's very interactive and essentially like watching an episode of the TV show where the kids go and do an activity, and then we bring the audience along with us.' The beloved characters are brought to life on stage through the art of puppetry, where the Pig family are moved around on wheels in front of their hidden puppeteers, including Crisp as Peppa. A great amount of physicality and technique is required as the puppeteers control their mouths while talking, Crisp spending a lot of time perfecting Peppa's voice. 'It's very high pitched because she's four years old, so there's lots of warming up, and we're essentially speak singing the whole show, because kids do kind of sing while they're speaking,' she says. 'It's a very singsongy voice. I recorded myself a lot leading up to the production, just to double-check I was sounding like the TV show.' Crisp landed the role after working on her first puppetry job last year, puppeteering baby dinosaurs in Universal Studios' Jurassic World: The Exhibition, before jumping into the less family-friendly musical, Avenue Q. 'It was all hand puppets, and the show ran for about a month, so I got a pretty good sense of puppeteering by the end,' she adds. Peppa Pig's Fun Day Out Live! is at The Regal Theatre, May 23 to 25. Tickets at
Perth Now
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Joy in playing Peppa Pig
Peppa Pig's Fun Day Out Live! director and writer Richard Lewis likens the stage show's titular character as the Taylor Swift for children. West Leederville-raised, WA Academy of Performing Arts musical theatre graduate Zoe Crisp absolutely agrees, having taken on the role in the Australian production currently touring the nation. 'She truly is a celebrity for kids,' the 25-year-old, Melbourne-based performer says. Your local paper, whenever you want it. 'It's such a joy playing Peppa. She's outspoken and she's got a bit of attitude on her, which I think is quite reflective of that age of being four years old and finding your voice. It's quite fun being able to play a four-year-old to an audience full of four-year-olds.' Having grown up watching Peppa Pig herself with her surf-loving twin brother Harry, Crisp says they easily connected with Peppa and George's sibling relationship. Zoe Crisp. Credit: Supplied 'My brother was quite a shy child, and I was very outspoken,' Crisp, who attended John Curtin College of the Arts, explains. 'I think it's just so relatable for everyone. It focuses on everyday family life, and I think parents can relate to it, children can relate to it, it doesn't matter where you're from. It's very simple, lovely storytelling.' While the production does not include the youngest member joining the TV series' Peppa Pig family this year, which has been on our screens since 2004, it does feature exactly what it states in the show's title — a fun day out. Zoe Crisp as Peppa and Jacqui Dwyer as George. Credit: Supplied 'We go to the zoo, we go to the beach, we see all sorts of animals, there's a dancing scarecrow and we jump in some puddles,' Crisp says. 'It's very interactive and essentially like watching an episode of the TV show where the kids go and do an activity, and then we bring the audience along with us.' The beloved characters are brought to life on stage through the art of puppetry, where the Pig family are moved around on wheels in front of their hidden puppeteers, including Crisp as Peppa. A great amount of physicality and technique is required as the puppeteers control their mouths while talking, Crisp spending a lot of time perfecting Peppa's voice. Zoe Crisp as Peppa and Jacqui Dwyer as George. Credit: Supplied 'It's very high pitched because she's four years old, so there's lots of warming up, and we're essentially speak singing the whole show, because kids do kind of sing while they're speaking,' she says. 'It's a very singsongy voice. I recorded myself a lot leading up to the production, just to double-check I was sounding like the TV show.' Crisp landed the role after working on her first puppetry job last year, puppeteering baby dinosaurs in Universal Studios' Jurassic World: The Exhibition, before jumping into the less family-friendly musical, Avenue Q. 'It was all hand puppets, and the show ran for about a month, so I got a pretty good sense of puppeteering by the end,' she adds. Peppa Pig's Fun Day Out Live! is at The Regal Theatre, May 23 to 25. Tickets at
Time Out
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Jurassic World: The Experience
This review is from 2022, when the show ran under the name Jurassic World: The Exhibition at ExCel London. It returns for 2025 in tweaked form at NEON in Battersea. It is an irrefutable law of nature that every London summer requires some sort of dinosaur-based family extravaganza or other, from the puppet fun of 'Dinosaur World Live' at the Open Air Theatre to the distinctly wobbly animatronic dinosaurs of last year's 'Jurassic Encounter'. 'Jurassic World: The Exhibition' has a distinct edge over most of the competition insofar as it's an official tie-in with the deathlessly popular Jurassic World/Park films. To be honest, though, this is a slightly double-edged sword: it's cool that we get encounters with 'Jurassic World' signature beasties Indominus Rex and Blue the Velociraptor. But a few pre-recorded appearances from the films' extensive casts – who've gamely contributed to various video game spin-offs – might have given it that little something extra. Or just a little more recognisable Jurassic Worldliness. The problem with being the 'official' live spin-off from a multibillion-dollar film franchise is that it raises expectations high for what is, ultimately, a solid mid-budget kids' show with average effects, containing a lot of very generic hallmarks of the summer dinosaur extravaganza (notably the classic baby dinosaur hand-puppets). It's still pretty diverting. A starting sequence where we're ushered on to a 'ferry' to visit Isla Nublar, the setting of the films, is a cute immersive touch. Efforts made throughout the show to cap guest numbers in any given area at any given time are skilfully done and much appreciated. And the concluding double whammy of the Indominus Rex and the T-rex is pretty pulse-raising in terms of big scary animatronics. But not everything hits the mark. There's a very weird scene in which a performer badly lip syncs to a commentary on Blue the raptor's training regime; why he couldn't deliver the lines himself I have no idea, but it's pretty embarrassing, not least because Blue is performed by a sluggish, rubbery puppet that moves with the grace of a pantomime horse with a gammy hoof. It doesn't sink it, but the whole point of the franchise ever since Steven Speilberg launched it in 1993 is that the dinosaurs look good, and that certainly can't be said across the board here
