Rosie and Hugh's Great Adventure opens a the North Wall Arts Centre before it heads to the Edinburgh Fringe. Daily Info sat down with the show's director, Ria Parry, to discuss what audiences can expect from the new work by Nick Cope and how they are feeling about heading to the Fringe with this production.
Daily Info: What’s Rosie and Hugh’s Great Big Adventure all about?
Ria Parry: Rosie and Hugh’s Great Big Adventure is a musical for 3-8 year olds and their families. Jam-packed with songs by Nick Cope (CBeebies), the show is about a little girl called Rosie and her best friend Hugh the Hedgehog. They want to make it the last day of the summer holidays forever, and so they go on adventure in to the forest to find a witch who can help them.
DI: What can audiences expect from this show?
RP: Incredibly catchy music from Nick Cope’s wonderful catalogue, performed by five talented actors and musicians. A brilliant adventure story about friendship, courage, hope and kindness - where we meet a squirrel with a wobbly tooth, a sleepy bear and a rusty robot along the way.
DI: How do you approach creating a show for 3 to 8 year olds?
RP: Nick Cope already has a huge fan base within this age range and his solo shows have always sold out at our arts centre, The North Wall in Oxford. We developed this show over the last couple of years at The North Wall with Nick, and also the fantastic Victoria Saxton who wrote the script. We have a very strong relationship with families and young people in our local community, and they have very generously supported the show at each stage of its development, feeding back about characters, the story and the staging. It really helped us to shape the show to be the best it could be, and we’re very proud to have had our local families and audiences so involved in its beginnings.
DI: Are you excited for the show to go to the Edinburgh Fringe?
RP: We’re so excited to head to the Fringe. We’re opening in Oxford at The North Wall before heading to Edinburgh for 3 weeks, then to Soho London for 1 week. We’ve had two North Wall productions at the Fringe before - both winning lots of awards including Fringe Firsts, a Stage Award and the Popcorn Award. We love the Fringe and we all love this show - we can’t wait to share Rosie and Hugh’s Great Big Adventure with everyone.
DI: Can you sum the show up in three words?
RP: Musical. Friendship. Fun.
Rosie and Hugh's Great Big Adventure is at the North Wall from Wednesday 24th to Saturday 27th July, before heading to the Edinburgh Fringe, and tickets can be purchased here.