21st Century Hen uses her loaf for ARC’s Christmas Show

The Little Red Hen is the hit family friendly puppet show from Stuff and Nonsense theatre company performed by Helen Day and Adam Fuller and directed by Marc Parrett.

Featuring a Pig with an IPod, a Rat with a mobile phone and a lazy Cow with a fake tan, the star is a hardworking Red Hen who wants to make her own bread but can’t get anyone to help her. Cutting the corn is a particularly big task for such a small bird and she has to use a variety of amazing tools, including a pair of garden shears and a crazy puppet chainsaw to achieve her goal.

The hugely loveable puppets are created and directed by puppet maestro Marc Parrett who has worked with Bristol Old Vic, Aardman Animations and The RSC. Stuff and Nonsense theatre company has teamed up with leading early-years performance expert Niki McCretton to create an enormously entertaining show featuring live music, ingenious puppets and a fantastically eccentric threshing machine. It is a real Christmas treat for the whole family with no scary bits whatsoever and uses simple British Sign Language.

I wish I was five again. Then I could let out unselfconscious whoops of hilarity and yelps of excitement. As it is, watching this delightful piece of theatre unfold, is almost enough to liberate adult inhibitions….A truly enchanting hour for children – and their parents.

– Roger Malone, The Stage newspaper.

• Stuff and Nonsense present The Little Red Hen at ARC from Thur 6 – Mon 24 Dec at various times. Tickets are priced £9 Family (4 people): £32 and can be purchased here.