Fantastic Mr Fox

Milton Keynes Theatre 7th - 11th March 2017

This brand new musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox is family fun at its best. 

"A juicy tale of greed, pride and the power of friendship, a dahlicious theatrical feast with live music and songs and gloriumptious designs. A wondercrump treat for the whole family! Boggis, Bunce and Bean, three greedy, smelly, horrid farmers hate the cunning Mr Fox... no-one outfoxes a fox!"

Mr Fox is smart, clever and rather fantastic, but he doesn’t realise how determined the farmers are to get revenge. Can he hatch a plan to save his family and friends? Can they outrun the diggers and outsmart the farmers? And can Rabbit shut up long enough not to give the game away?

There is a very apt grisly beginning to the show, where a little bird meets a very sad end (it gets shot!)- it’s very evident from the start that Sam Halcroft’s adaptation of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox is not afraid to tackle the more grim themes from the book. 

The story follows the tale of the fantastic Fox, who constantly outwits a trio of greedy farmers. Mr Fox, a big-hearted rascal, each night steals food from three greedy and repulsive farmers in the valley - Boggis, Bunce and Bean. 

Each night he takes the stolen food back, not only to his wife and little kit but all his furry forest friends too.  Sharing the spoils and his exciting tales nightly amongst them all...until he manages to get his bushy tail shot off by the disgruntled farmers! Mr Fox has to learn a sharp lesson about working as a team and not fantastically on his own.

The cast are brilliant at making every character distinctive, and the doubling up works really well. The costumes were a bit of a surprise but still very clever, using sports-wear inspired representations of each animal, from Rabbit’s skin tight leotard, to Fox’s brightly coloured tracksuit. 

 

The set is cleverly designed and very well utilised, it takes you from Mr and Mrs Fox's den to the farmer's food stores and much more. The energetic cast (who seem to be having lots of fun) do a lot of running, jumping and shouting all over it. 

The vibrantly colourful props are cartoon like versions of the real thing and are a definite winner with the little ones in the audience.  I particularly loved the comedy rubber chickens to show that we were inside Boggis’ farm... 

The entire cast are filled with infectious enthusiasm and makes this a really enjoyable production. Fantastic Mr Fox is a show for all the family...it's fantastic fun!

Enjoy!

Lily B X