A Review of Peppa Pig Live 2018 At The Watford Colloseum

If you have children of pre-school age and under you’ll most probably be familiar with the children’s tv programme Peppa Pig. My Son is a HUGE fan of the cartoon series and his vocabulary and knowledge of real world situations has most definitely improved from watching carefully selected age appropriate educational cartoons as part of his  1.5 hour daily screen time allowance. So when I found out that Peppa Pig was touring the UK and Ireland in the form of Peppa Pig Live I just knew I had to take little Eco who is now of the age where he can appreciate such experiences and was beyond thrilled when we managed to secure press tickets to a venue fairly local to us.

Watford Colosseum

On Saturday 24th February 2018, my little family made the short journey via car to the Watford Colosseum where Peppa Pig Live was touring at the venue over the weekend. We chose the earliest viewing time of 1 pm as this way, Eco could still have a little nap should he wish to take it after the show had finished.

Getting to the venue was the easy part. Finding parking was… shall I say eventful! With the Colosseum not having its own parking facility we were advised by the box office team to park in the leisure centre but was mortified to learn upon arrival that the Pay and Display machines only accepted cash!! As someone who is unlikely to have small change on them due to the preference of paying by card, cue frantic parent running across the car park desperately trying but failing to locate an ATM in sight. If it wasn’t for the kind lady who also with family to watch the show insisting I take £1.20 to cover the parking we definitely would have ended up missing the first 15 minutes of the show.

Peppa Pig Live 

Once inside, we passed the merchandise area and were guided to our seats which was located in the centre of the seated stalls but had a great view of the stage. Thankfully the show had just started so didn’t miss much and little Eco beamed with delight when spotting the giant sized characters of Peppa Pig singing and dancing on stage.

Scenes included a classroom setting with Madam Gazelle learning numbers and the alphabet before the class set about a camping trip into the woods. The infamous Bong Bing Boom song was sang and my Son interacted by smiling, clapping and singing along word for word much to Daddy and I’s delight.

Once in the camper van various other songs and nursery rhymes were sang but felt the production should have stuck to the songs included in the actual Peppa Pig episodes for familiarity, especially for younger children like Eco who was days shy of his 2nd birthday when we went. I felt this added a bit of confusion to an otherwise great production as he didn’t know what to make of it due to the songs not matching up with the ones in the actual episodes apart from bing bong song mentioned earlier on in this article.

They did however reenact a night time camping scene which my Son instantly recognised and watched along tentatively. I personally liked this part the best for the Colosseum lights were dimmed and the props used along with typical sounds you would expect to here in an after dark woodland setting really set the scene of camping at night.

Overall Thoughts on Peppa Pig Live

With familiar characters and strikingly similar voices to those in the cartoon series your little(s) will be sure to thoroughly enjoy this 1.5 hour production. Extra brownie points were given for the 15 minute interim break half way through the as I strongly feel young children would have started to get a little restless and perhaps no longer interested if the show were to proceed without one (children under 3 generally have a short attention span). This gave parents and caregivers the chance to complete any toilet trips without missing any of the scenes whilst keeping little’s happy with much needed snacks and a drink to sip on. 

We took the opportunity to visit the merchandise area and purchase a  Daddy Pig light up spinning windmill which Eco loved waving around in the second half of the show. After another round of singing and dancing the show ended and on our way out Daddy bought a thrilled little Eco a Peppa Pig adventure Foil balloon which kept him entertained for a good few weeks before it eventually lost its air.

Peppa Pig Live Current Tour Dates For 2018

Peppa Pig Live is currently touring the whole of UK and Ireland, across the pond in the US and Canada and has just announced tour dates on the other side of the world in Australia. Tour dates and locations for all countries mentioned in 2018 can be found via clicking HERE. If you are looking for a great family day out I would highly recommend having a browse of the website to see if a show will be coming to a place near you!

Special Thanks

I would like to thank the Peppa Pig Live press team for providing complementary press tickets to the show. Judging by the huge smile on my Son’s face on the way back home he thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He is at an age of understanding a whole lot more now he has just turned 2 years old and so can appreciate these type of experiences that a children’s theatre production brings.

Have you taken your little(s) to see Peppa Pig Live yet? If so, I am keen to know your thoughts by leaving a comment in the box below.

Disclaimer: My little family were kindly given press tickets to the show in exchange for a review. As always all thoughts and opinions expressed in this article are honest and entirely my own.