Lazy Town Live stage show

It was a gloriously sunny day, we had taken a railway journey and then had lunch al fresco, followed by a walk along the sea front. We arrived at the Cliffs Pavilion twenty minutes before the show was due to start. We queued for overpriced neon flashing toys which delighted the children (5,3 and 1.) We bought a program with stickers included and visited the toilets!

We took our seats in the stalls, in the centre of the fifth row and the babble from the assembled children, many of them dressed in the blue of Sportacus and the pink wigs of Stephanie had an excited tone. On time a warm up lady appeared to set the scene, we were going to voyage to Lazy Town, and we did.

The show was superb, high energy, bright and true to the show. A mixture of two well known episodes, the pirate adventure and the one where Sportacus forgets who he is. The premise being that if the apple tree in Lazy Town ever died life would effectively end! The actors were clear and the singing and dancing brilliant, the kids were encouraged to join in a few times which of course they loved. Having been to the original show I was pleased to find the cast was pretty much the same, but had grown into their roles and were performing with more precision. The children really believed they were in Lazy Town and loved the show. There were plenty of gasps and shouts at the right moment and I for one will be booking tickets should they tour again with a new show. 5/5

The Brutal art by Jesse Kellerman

This book is a little bit in danger of running away with itself, the premise itself is original, a truck load of drawing is discovered in mysterious circumstances in a long since deserted apartment. The art is passed onto an art dealer who just happens to be estranged from his father and deals with his Pa and friend. Strange things happen that end with the art dealer meeting up with and working on finding the artist with the help of a dying police officer. The loose ends are all tied up by the end of the book but somewhat disappointingly, attempts to redeem characters don't really ring true and although I was initially gripped to find the ending, when I did I was left a little flat.
The book is well written and the first three quarters are exciting, the historical interludes slow the pace down and will require the reader to hold in their head two sets of characters, and did in the end become a little tiresome.
I also found some of the characters a little stereotypical, particularly Marilyn.
For this reason I can only award 3/5