Experiencing The Magician’s Nephew at Shaw Festival

During the Shaw Festival 2017, we had a memorable experience watching Wilde Tales. Our children enjoyed being part of the one-hour pre-show workshop, where they got to work with the cast and be part of the play. This year we were eager to see what show will be suitable to watch as a family - and went to watch The Magician's Nephew at the Festival Theatre, and experience the one hour workshop of Creating the Magician's Nephew before the show. 

It was a magical show. The story is set in Victorian London. The characters young Digory and his new friend Polly stumble onto a magical portal and go into another world. During their travel through the portals using the magic rings, they discover Jadis the witch of Narnia who could destroy them all, and see Aslan the lion create Narnia. The story is based on the prequel to the first Narnia book, if you know the Narnia tales then the shows will make a lot of sense and will be fun to relate to.

We loved the stellar performances, some parts were funny, exciting, and engaging. We loved how creatively they used masks and cardboard boxes as props in the show. There were also awesome effects in the background. It makes children feel, they can create so many wonderful everyday items with just cardboard boxes if they think creatively. 

In the beginning of the show, the "Dream Detectives" came around and asked about dreams children have had, and were speaking with the audience which felt exciting for us. In the beginning of the show they did mention a couple of dreams the children in the audience had, but since they wrote down so many of the dreams we thought they would be mentioning the dreams during the show, but this didn't happen. The show was 2 hours and 10 minutes with the intermission, and it did feel a little long. 

The pre-show workshop, which is $5 per person with a ticket to the performance is well worth being part of as we got to be "Junior Dream Detectives" and be active during the show. This workshop held at the Court House theatre is for all ages and starts at 11 a.m. before matinees of The Magician's Nephew. 

Being part of the workshop will keep children engaged, as they watch for the cues to be part of the show. During this one-hour interactive actor-led workshop experience we decorated the detective badges, built a crown to put on during the play, came up with a soundscape to perform during the show, learned a couple of lines from a song to sing along, used blocks to create things like a castle and chair, which gave us an intro to how creatively the set used cardboard boxes as props during the show. This pre-show is fun for all ages!

It is perfect for everyone in the family, and Narnia lovers and first-time discoverers of this treasured literary series by C.S. Lewis will enjoy this show. Book your tickets before the play comes to an end in October and enjoy the theatre experience in historic Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Disclosure: This is a partnership post. Mentioned video is courtesy of Shaw Festival. Please note that all opinions and thoughts expressed are my own. All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2010 - 2018. Please Ask First