While my daughter enjoyed this scatological children’s musical in parts, I was underwhelmed, overstimulated and irritated by this messy and lazy show.

The script was poorly structured and difficult to follow. I’ve enjoyed Tom Fletcher kids books in the past, but I didn’t have enough familiarity with the Dinosaur Poop Literary Universe to keep up with the first half of the show, which seemed to be largely taken up with discussions of things and people that the dinosaur had previously eaten and emitted. When the true storyline finally did get going, it felt flimsy and obvious, even for the under 10s - the finale really is in the title here, nothing else happens. The songs were fine (largely McFly reworking, but fine) but we only ever got a quick snatch of anything before moving on, creating an overwhelming and annoying effect that might appeal to some children struggling to focus on longer songs, but is unnecessary even for my pre-schooler and incredibly annoying to any adults in the audience. This technique is also used for the audience interaction elements, which is even more jarring. The actors would prompt an interactive element but then move on immediately, not giving the children any time to process and imitate.

At nearly £20 per ticket even for children, this show felt like it could have had significantly higher production values. The set and costumes were underwhelming, with a fairly basic rotating pair of towers that became a few different locations but offered little sense of place or transformation. Similarly, the staging itself was underdeveloped or outright flawed - in the scene where the dinosaur finally does his titular poo, at one point he’s facing the audience so the poo (orange foam) is coming out of his side onto a grim, bright blue tarpaulin laid there moments earlier by the rest of the cast. There were so few moments of delight or surprise in the show, so little theatricality or imagination used. I was not expecting high art from The Dinosaur That Pooped A Rock Band, but I WAS expecting anarchic fun, and a fair few wow moments. This production was lacking in both.

My optimistic four year old found much to like about this show - she enjoyed booing a villain, and the climactic poo scene in particular (she didn’t care that the dinosaur’s poo angle was physically impossible). The other children had a more mixed response. Many of them were struggling to pay attention and restless throughout, and a girl behind us was frequently tearful, presumably because she was so overwhelmed by the noise. My kid spent a good half of the show tucked into my armpit trying to escape from the noise, which was far too high for the age group. There were certainly children who were enjoying the show as well - the more confident and high energy kids were clearly having fun shouting and dancing in the aisles.

This show might be a good choice if you have a child with an extremely short attention span who will be sufficiently amused by the premise alone. Otherwise, it’s best avoided.