Little Dog Barking is always a favourite in our household. Plant a Seed takes us on the journey of a Kowhai tree, from seed to tree to seed.  

Our new BFFs Kenny and Laurel greet us with warmth and invite us to become a part of the show by being the wind, the rain and others. Under the direction of Jacqualine Coates, Kenny King and Laurel Mitchell are masters of audience connection with their theatrical musicality on point.

I get very excited when I see the ol’ comedic 1, 2, 3 perfectly played out. I lean over to my children to make sure they’ve taken note of the comedic triple in action but as I begin connecting Kenny and Laurel to Dick van Dyke, my five year old fans me away because she’s trying to listen to a Tui. Then, Kenny asks them, “Would you like to help us?”
“YEEEESSSSSS!” the kids scream in the face of my theatrical analysis. Of course they do! Because of the successful set up, audience connection and musicality – which, coincidently, is also a three – but on stage a worm is doing a poo so I wouldn’t dare attempt to compete with that.

Sue Hill’s puppets are beautiful and intricate, full of character and personality. There’s a near silent game of Cat (or in this case Owl) and Mouse which is so full of expression that it gives Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote a run for their money. Did I mention that the Kowhai tree grows in front of us!

My three-year-old fills the theatre with belly laughs throughout and Miss 5 is beaming. On the way out Mr. 3 starts to wonder how his mango tree, planted at preschool, is doing during these holidays. We’ll visit tomorrow to check up and make sure it has enough water.

Luna:

In the show, first, they found some seeds and they didn’t know what it was. They thought they would plant them and they met a worm and they sang a song with worm poop in it, haha. They needed some rain and some sun for the seed to grow. They were tired and so they went to sleep and it grew really big. It was a kowhai tree!

The Ruru protected the tree from naughty rats who wanted the seeds. Then seasons changed and the seeds fell to the ground to make new kowhai trees. I liked everything. I liked the people because they were funny. I liked the music because it was very pretty. I liked how the puppets sang songs.

My favorite puppet was the Ruru. The show teaches about life and the world and the cycle of seeds and trees.

Dev:

I liked the kowhai tree because it grows in front of us in the show. I love the people because they were so funny. They waited for the tree to grow and then it didn’t grow. They ate kai and then go to sleep and then they waked up and it started to grow! They wait and wait like this (Dev stands and silently turns slowly on the spot, as per the show).

I liked the Tui who was trying to get the worm. The big worm pooped worm poo, hehehehe. I liked the singing and the dancing. I liked the sun because it helped the plant to grow and the moon came out and the Ruru came. RUUUURUUU, RUUURUUU, RUUUURUUU.

Can we go to that show again?

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