REVIEW - DEAR ZOO LIVE – A COLOURFUL FAMILY THEATRE TRIP WITH THE KIDS 🦁🐘
Dear Zoo Live 🦁
On Tuesday 11th August, we headed to The Lowry to see the 11am performance of Dear Zoo Live.
Alice and Leo have both loved Dear Zoo over the years and, although they're probably a little older than the main preschool audience now, they were still really excited to see all the familiar animals from Rod Campbell's book brought to life on stage.
We were invited along to the press performance, which also included some activities for the children before the show, so we needed to be at The Lowry a little earlier than we would for a normal 11am performance.
Getting to The Lowry from home involves catching two trams, so we caught our first tram at around 9.50am before changing at Cornbrook for the tram to MediaCity.
We arrived at around 10.10am, which gave us plenty of time before the performance started.
As we were a little early, we headed into the Lowry Outlet Mall opposite the theatre and made a quick stop at the Cadbury shop to pick up some chocolate before the show.
With chocolate sorted, we headed across to The Lowry at around 10.30am and made our way around to the Quays Theatre.
Pre-Show Activities & Dear Zoo Merchandise 🖍️🛍️
When we arrived at the press desk, Alice and Leo were each given Dear Zoo activity sheets and crayons.
We stopped to take a photo in front of the Dear Zoo sign before finding a table in the Quays Bar, where the children settled down with their activity sheets while we waited for the auditorium to open.
It was a really nice way to start the morning and meant they had something to keep them occupied before the show.
Of course, it wasn't long before Leo and I went to investigate the merchandise stand!
There was quite a big selection of Dear Zoo books available:
📖 Dear Zoo Pop-Up Book – £10
📕 Dear Zoo Board Book – £8
🐾 Dear Zoo Touch & Feel Book – £9
👶 Dear Zoo Buggy Book – £7
📚 Dear Zoo Little Library – £7
🖍️ Dear Zoo Activity Book – £8
📛 Dear Zoo Badges – £2 each
The badges featured different animals from the story, including the elephant, lion, monkey and puppy. There was also an "I've Seen Dear Zoo" badge featuring the familiar image of the lion inside its crate.
Leo chose the "I've Seen Dear Zoo" badge and immediately went back to the table to show Alice.
As soon as she saw his, she decided she wanted one too!
So I headed back over to the merchandise stand with Alice and she chose the puppy badge.
With both children now happy with their new badges, we went back to our table where they carried on with their activity sheets and had a snack until it was announced that the auditorium was open.
Our Seats & View in the Quays Theatre 🎭
Once the auditorium opened, we headed inside to find our seats.
We were sitting in Stalls Row G, Seats 13–16, and had an excellent clear view of the stage.
On the way into the auditorium, we picked up a booster seat for Leo. The booster seats can be found near the Stalls doors before you enter, so they're really easy to grab if younger children need a little extra height.
The Quays Theatre is one of the smaller theatre spaces at The Lowry, so Row G felt close enough to see everything clearly without being too near the stage.
Before the performance had even started, Leo had already spotted something very exciting.
Sitting in the middle of the stage was a giant version of the Dear Zoo book.
"Look, it's a giant book!"
It was such a simple idea, but immediately got the children interested in what was going to happen when the show started.
The Show 🦒🐘🦁
Based on Rod Campbell's much-loved lift-the-flap book, Dear Zoo Live follows Ben, who writes to the zoo asking them to send him a pet.
Unfortunately, the zoo doesn't quite get it right!
One by one, different animals are delivered, but each one has a reason why it isn't quite suitable. Eventually, after sending all the others back, Ben finally receives the perfect pet.
The stage production keeps the familiar repetitive structure of the book but expands the story with Ben's friend Sally and Sam the Zookeeper, as well as music, puppetry and lots of opportunities for the children in the audience to join in.
This was probably one of Alice and Leo's favourite parts of the show.
Rather than expecting younger children to sit quietly for the whole performance, there are lots of moments where they're actively encouraged to get involved.
They counted flowers, sang along, stretched up tall, pretended to munch leaves like a giraffe, roared like a lion and jumped up and down like a frog.
Leo absolutely loved jumping along with the frog, while Alice enthusiastically joined in with the lion's roar.
And, of course, there were lots of excited little voices shouting "I sent him back!" whenever another unsuitable animal needed to return to the zoo.
Even though Alice and Leo already knew which animals were coming, it didn't spoil the fun at all. If anything, knowing the story seemed to make them even more excited as they waited to see how each familiar animal would appear.
Visually, the production is really colourful and does a lovely job of recreating the illustrations from the book.
The different crates are a big part of this. The giraffe arrives in an incredibly tall green crate marked "FRAGILE", the lion's bright red crate says "DANGER!", while the elephant appears from an enormous yellow crate labelled "VERY HEAVY!"
It really does feel a little like watching the flaps of the book open up in front of you.
I also liked that the animals weren't all brought to life in exactly the same way.
Some keep the flat illustrated appearance of the book, while others use puppetry or full costumes. The snake and the puppy were puppets, while the frog and mischievous monkey could move around the stage as full characters.
Alice particularly loved the snake and puppy puppets, while Leo's favourites were the frog and monkey.
There are also songs throughout the show. I wouldn't say any particularly stayed in my head afterwards, but they are easy for younger children to follow and give them even more opportunities to join in.
Marcus Jones and Jennifer Peters play Ben and Sally, with Tom Lloyd-Kendall as Sam the Zookeeper. Although Ben and Sally are played by adults, I thought they were really believable as young children and brought lots of energy and excitement to the story.
The whole cast were also really good at interacting with such a young audience and making it clear when the children could join in.
Our performance lasted around 50 minutes with no interval, which felt just right for the age group it is aimed at.
Lunch & Another Visit to Wild Things 🐾
After the show, our family day out wasn't quite finished.
We walked over to the Quayside Beefeater for some lunch before heading back to The Lowry.
While we were there, we decided to have another look around the Wild Things exhibition.
This tied in really nicely with our morning because Dear Zoo is one of the children's books featured in the exhibition, so we'd gone from seeing the story brought to life on stage to spotting it again inside Wild Things.
We had already visited the exhibition when it first opened and had a brilliant time exploring all the colourful displays, original children's book illustrations and activities.
If you're thinking of visiting too, you can read our full Wild Things at Lowry review to see more of what's inside.
It worked really well as an extra activity after the show and helped turn our relatively short theatre visit into a much bigger family day out.
After a busy morning of animals, theatre, activities and lunch, we eventually headed back to MediaCity and caught the tram home at around 2pm.
Final Thoughts ✨
We had such a lovely family morning seeing Dear Zoo Live.
Alice and Leo are probably towards the older end of the audience for the show now, but because they already knew and loved the book, they still had a brilliant time seeing all the familiar animals brought to life.
Even though they're probably moving beyond the main preschool audience, it was lovely seeing how involved they still became in a story they've known for years. The audience participation definitely helped keep them engaged and meant they weren't simply sitting and watching for the whole performance.
I also really liked how recognisable everything was from the book. The giant book on stage, colourful crates, puppets and different animals make it really easy for young children to connect what they're watching with the story they know from home.
Its short running time also makes it really manageable for younger children, and I think it would make a lovely first theatre experience.
Adding the activity sheets before the performance, choosing their little badges and visiting Wild Things afterwards meant we were also able to turn a relatively short show into a much bigger family day out at Salford Quays.
A colourful and interactive family theatre trip that brings a much-loved children's book to life.
More Information About Dear Zoo Live 🦁
Dear Zoo Live has now finished its run at The Lowry, where we saw the production in the Quays Theatre.
The good news is that the production is continuing to tour the UK, so there are still plenty of opportunities to see the show at other venues. You can check out the official Dear Zoo Live website for more information and the latest tour dates.
As performance times, ticket prices, age recommendations and facilities can vary between theatres, it's worth checking the details directly with the venue you're planning to visit.
If you'd like to read our more detailed theatre-focused review of the production, you can head over to our Dear Zoo review on All About Theatre
🎥 Watch Our Dear Zoo Theatre Trip in the Weekly Vlog
If you'd like to come along with us on our family trip to see Dear Zoo Live at The Lowry, you can watch our visit in my weekly vlog. - Coming Soon
🎭 At A Glance
📍 Venue Visited: The Lowry, Salford
🎭 Theatre: Quays Theatre
🗺️ UK Tour: Dear Zoo Live is continuing to tour the UK – check your local venue for upcoming dates and ticket prices
⏱️ Runtime: Approx. 55 minutes
☕ Interval: No interval
👤 Recommended Age: 3+
🎟️ Tickets: Prices vary by tour venue – tickets at The Lowry were £19.50
🎭 What to Expect: Puppetry, costumed characters, music and lots of audience interaction
👶 Good First Theatre Show?: Yes – the short runtime, familiar story and opportunities to join in make it particularly suitable for younger children
💺 Our Seats: Stalls Row G, Seats 13–16
👀 Seat View: Excellent clear view of the stage
🪑 Booster Seats: Available at The Lowry – we picked one up near the Stalls doors before entering the Quays Theatre
🛍️ Merchandise Available: Dear Zoo books and character badges were available during our visit, with prices from £2
🍫 Food & Drink: The Lowry has bars and cafés, with plenty of additional places to eat at Quayside MediaCityUK opposite the theatre
🐾 Things To Do Nearby: The free Wild Things exhibition at The Lowry features Dear Zoo alongside other much-loved children's books
🚋 Getting There: The Lowry is easily accessible by tram, with MediaCity and Imperial War Museum stops both nearby
🚗 Parking: Parking is available at Quayside MediaCityUK opposite The Lowry
♿ Accessibility: Accessible facilities and performances are available at The Lowry – check individual performances when booking
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