Pip and Posy Live on Stage – Little Angel Theatre

Bethan Haney, Tamsin Lyne and Jake Pratt in Pip and Posy Live on Stage at the Little Angel Theatre, London. Picture: Suzi Corker

Pip and Posy Live on Stage continues at the Little Angel Theatre, London until 22 November 2026.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

Axel Scheffler’s popular picture book characters Pip and Posy make the leap to stage in this bright, colourful and wholesome production from Little Angel Theatre artistic director Samantha Lane and composer and lyricist Barb Jungr.

Lane and Jungr collaborated on the enjoyable Little Angel adaptation of Dermot O’Leary’s children’s book Toto the Ninja Cat and the Great Snake Escape. This production, also written and directed by Lane, is equally polished and benefits hugely from Jungr’s simple but pleasantly tuneful and varied songs. However, its more basic plot – aimed squarely at its target audience of two to five year olds – and slightly repetitive action means that there is a bit less for parents and older siblings to engage with.

But as enthusiastic and gung-ho young mouse Posy and her slightly more sensitive rabbit best friend Pip play together and go on an adventure without ever leaving their backyard – engagingly and colourfully conjured up by Karl Evans Studio’s set and Andy Cook’s lighting – life lessons are learned and facts about the wildlife they encounter are conveyed in a way that certainly holds the attentions of the preschoolers in the audience for its brisk, 45-minute running time.

The puppets, controlled and voiced winningly by performers Jake Pratt, Bethan Haney and Tamsin Lyne, are plush and beautifully rendered – and nearly 5ft tall in the case of rabbit Pip. They also impressively re-create the look of the characters of the Sky TV animated Pip and Posy series produced by Magic Light Pictures, the company behind the successful TV adaptations of illustrator Scheffler’s beloved collaborations with Julia Donaldson.

But their fixed, unmoving faces and the general lack of interaction or audience participation in the story – beyond some quick games of ‘Simon Says’ and ‘I Spy’ at the start of the show and bubbles being sprayed into the crowd at the end – slightly lessens the sense of involvement.

The trio of performers deliver throughout though. Haney’s enthusiastic and breezy performance as the more impulsive and confident Posy drives the action along, while Pratt nails Pip’s more trepidatious manner. Lyne also gives distinctive performances as an array of equally cute and cuddly supporting characters, such as artistic cat Mo.

Jungr’s songs effectively pepper and augment the action, with standouts including the jaunty ‘Let’s Fly’ that accompanies the duo’s imagined hot air balloon ride and the pleasingly stirring, madrigal-like ‘An Epic Adventure’, on which the three performers’ voices combine to bracingly musical effect.

Lane’s script expertly conveys the trials and minor tribulations of preschool kids as they learn to play and get along with their friends. When Posy gets a little carried away and Pip’s beloved red ballon is popped, the little rabbit’s sense of loss is palpable.

And the show’s central message about taking on board other people’s ideas and working as a team comes through loud and clear without ever feeling preachy.

Chris Bartlett