The program had a tear sheet that folds into a sheep's ear
Some things I expected, some I didn't.
First, let's talk about what I DID expect. My scaredy-cat boy, who is taller and bigger than most kids his age, started to freak out the moment we went to pick up our tickets from the box office. It appears his little mind is already retaining more than I give him credit for. He apparently remembers The Tooth Fairy incident and is shuddering at another 'real-life' experience with the performers.
Anyhow, when I tugged and pulled him into the theatre at DBS Arts Centre, he started doing his Ninja thing where he ducked and ran semi-squat through the rows of seats so that he's camouflaged amongst the chairs, until we finally reached our allocated seats.
When we reached our seats, he proceeded to sit me down urgently in my seat before clambering onto my lap and grabbing my arms to encapsulate him within me. I could hardly breathe as he made sure my arms were tightly wrapped around him. He also quickly removed his beloved Ben 10 watch and made me keep it in my handbag's (which was taking the seat he refused to be on) secret zipped compartment so the "Big Bad Wolf would not take it, Mummy!"
The simple but cute set with the sheeps, castle and Jack's giant beanstalk
We waited in trepidation for the play to begin and my trembling todd surveyed the set and evaluated if he ought to make a dash for the exit.
Enters the Big Bad Wolf played by Filomar C. Tariao who is no where as scarily styled as the witch from The Tooth Fairy. Truth be told, he looked a little comical with his fluffy long tail and stylish boots. But his sheer presence and our proximity to the stage was enough to hold my son ransom to the intangible fear.
Despite the gripping fear, he responded to the Wolf's requests to sing "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf" and to practice screaming at the sight of the wolf. This is with credits to Filomar who engaged the kids in the audience with his song and dance sequence. Filomar who is obviously a trained dancer did jazzy numbers and ballet steps that had both kids and adults entertained and entranced. It also helps that he has good comic timing and wit and was able to poke fun at the adults while ensuring that the kids understood his jokes.
One good example was when Wolf was looking to eat a sheep in the audience and when a kid pointed at his dad, volunteering him as an offering, Wolf proclaimed that the sheep was a little too old, causing the kids to break out in guffaws (OK, so did the adults but we were trying to be more discreet about laughing at the poor guy).
Back to the point of the play. Petey, played by Tim Garner, and his Father, played by Darius Tan sets the storyline of Petey being asked to watch the sheeps while his daddy (a wood-cutter) goes away to work on a project in the castle to earn more money for the family (and with hopes of climbing the "corporate ladder" to become the Royal Wood-Cutter).
As we all know, Petey proceeds to cry wolf (although they did improvise to make it Cry Giant the first time and Cry Dragon the second) which resulted in his dad not believing him the third time when he cried Wolf for real.
I was also expecting appropriate points to make reference of these lying examples to my todd about not telling lies. What I was NOT expecting was a hidden lesson in there for parents too.
Watching the play, I discovered that the moral of the story was not just about telling the kids that lying is a bad thing. It also hinted to parents that there are some underlying triggers that may make kids lie.
Petey lied to his dad to get his attention because dad was "always busy working" and "never kept his promise" to spend time with Petey.
So to parents of kids who cry wolf, before you tell them 'shoo' the next time because "Mummy is busy", remember how many times you have broken that promise (that counts as lying too, no?) and told your kid, "I promise I will take you to a picnic next week. Promise!"
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