Picture: Jess Shurte
Zog continues at Cadogan Hall, London until 23 August 2026.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
The Gruffalo has generally been the standout character from the menagerie of creatures that populate Julia Donaldson’s perennially popular children’s books – the Mickey Mouse of her and illustrator Axel Scheffler’s extended picture book universe, if you will.
But lately another of Donaldson and Scheffler’s creations has been giving the hairy, wart-nosed beastie a run for his money. Plucky but accident-prone dragon Zog first appeared in picture book form in 2010, followed by sequel Zog and the Flying Doctors. Both got the big Christmas Day BBC One adaptation treatments in 2018 and 2020 respectively, then Zog was given his own full-blown CBBC animated series earlier this year.
This stage adaptation from Freckle Productions, first performed at the Rose Theatre, Kingston in 2019 and now revived with new songs by Joe Stilgoe, certainly captures the scrappy appeal that has made the character so popular.
Like most kids, Zog tries his best but often gets things wrong. Michael Brazier’s book sticks closely to the simplicity of Donaldson’s tale. Her trademark rhymes are mostly dispensed with but the adaptation faithfully follows Zog’s misadventures at dragon school as he tries to master essential skills such as flying, breathing fire and fighting, while striving desperately to be awarded a gold star for his efforts. The passage of time is cleverly marked through various beautifully decorated umbrellas depicting autumnal leaves, winter snows, spring blooms and so on.
The production skews young, aiming things squarely at its 3-plus target audience with big, expressive performances from its five-strong cast (especially Jess Lobo as Princess Pearl and the show’s narrator), plenty of bum and fart jokes and bright, eye-catching costumes from Katie Sykes. While puppets are used impactfully throughout, younger audience members might be disappointed that Zog and his classmates are portrayed by actors dressed in dragon-like attire rather than fully costumed characters – although Samuel John Taylor portrays Zog with enough infectious, youthfully endearing zeal.
The adults might find their attentions waning if it wasn’t for Stilgoe’s entertainingly catchy, if slightly derivative, songs. The best ones come early, with Zog’s uplifting opening number ‘When I Win a Gold Star’ and the jauntily witty ‘I Can Do It’ (with lyrics including “I’m not braggin’ but I’m a dragon”) getting things off to a promising start.
Other songs wear their musical influences a bit too obviously. The fun call-and-response of ‘Practice, Practice, Practice’ closely mimics the Sherman Brothers – completed by Lotti Brogan’s enjoyably clipped, matronly Mary Poppins-like delivery as teacher Madame Dragon – while the rousing, up-tempo bop of ‘Golden Star’, a reprise of which ends the show on a foot-tapping high, strongly echoes Hercules’ ‘A Star is Born’.
Although the instruments are recorded, Paul Herbert’s orchestrations add a consistent sheen to the music. Meanwhile, Katie Beard’s choreography and Ryan McBryde’s direction move the cast around a simple multi-level set of green scaffolding with style.
The pace dips slightly towards the end but is lifted by the arrival of the big-headed knight Sir Gadabout – played with amusing bravado by Hugh Cotton – and some slapstick fisticuffs that morph into a ballroom dance that add to the overall visual impact.
Chris Bartlett
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