Babe, The Sheep-Pig

This show has now closed, click here for a listing of current and future London shows

Children's Show Opened 1 August 2006, Closed 26 August 2006

Open Air Theatre Inner Circle, Regent's Park, London

Babe The Sheep-Pig is a wonderful tale of high adventure in the farmyard, of humble beginnings and courageous triumphs, as one little piglet rises to become the world famous 'sheep-pig'.

When Babe is won by Farmer Hogget at the Village Fair, an extraordinary friendship begins - one that will change the whole farm. Through a variety of farmyard friends and his new 'mother' the old dog Fly, Babe quickly learns the herding instinct and delights all, politely winning over the most suspicious of sheep.

When the day of the Grand Challenge Sheep-Dog Trials dawns, the whole farm holds its breath to see whether Babe will triumph, against all odds, to become the hero of the hour.

Directed and adapted by the country's top children's playwright David Wood, Babe The SheepPig is an ideal family show based on the best selling book by Dick King-Smith and features music by Peter Pontzen. While children of all ages are welcome, this production is recommended for all those aged six and above.

"David Wood used to crack jokes with the Monty Python team while at university. He's since gone straight and devoted himself to the peculiarly demanding and largely under-appreciated role as children's playwright - with great success. His adaptation of Dick King-Smith's Babe: The Sheep-Pig, the piglet who saved his own bacon by herding sheep, manages to be faithful to the original while introducing some neat touches [and has] a farmyard freshness no pantomime will match." The Mail on Sunday

"David Wood has been in the children's theatre game for over 30 years now, and... his adaptation of Dick King-Smith's classic, Babe the sheep-pig, is characteristically engaging. It can't quite compete with the film version, in which real animals seem to speak as if it were the most natural thing in the world, but Wood's gift for gripping narrative and intelligent audience participation ensures rapt attention." The Daily Telegraph

David Wood on adapting the book Babe, the Sheep-Pig for the stage: "Soon after Dick King-Smith's The Sheep-Pig was published in 1983 my wife and I read it to our daughters. We loved it and I was convinced it would become a classic. The successful film version entitled Babe further popularised the story and now I am proud to have been entrusted with its translation from the page to stage - my thanks to Dick King-Smith for writing a splendidly theatrical story and for generously approving this adaptation."