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Songs, physical comedy and clever design come together in Theatr Iolo’s adaptation of Arnold Lobel’s offbeat story, aimed at over-fives
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Stage — Chris Wiegand
Arnold Lobel was a writer with a keen sense of the seasons. Frog and Toad Are Friends , one of my favourite books since childhood, has a wonderful story where the excitable Frog wakes up his grumpy friend Toad and tricks him into enjoying the dawn of spring with him. Those stories celebrate togetherness but Lobel’s collection Owl at Home is about aloneness and being at one with your surroundings – even when the arrival of winter brings a snowstorm blowing through your roost.
With his hair gelled into tufts, George Williams plays Owl in this adaptation by Rina Vergano and Theatr Iolo , directed by Lee Lyford. We find Williams dozing in an armchair on Anisha Fields’ accomplished set, which retains the cosy essence of Lobel’s illustrations but is less twee. The roost functions as an equally eccentric character in itself, filled with contraptions, dark wooden furniture and a periscope to nervously keep an eye on the world outside.
The collection’s stories are supplemented with songs and physical comedy including a tail feather-shaking exercise routine and a tussle with a dust buster. There are many delightful details: Owl sleeps with an eye mask, over his horn-rimmed glasses, and swivels it around to become a sporty headband. Not bothered to chase his prey, he catches chocolate mice in traps and hangs them out to ripen; Williams is alarmingly good at producing the postprandial pellet. Children will recognise the trick of turning a half-eaten pancake into a smile or a crescent moon.
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Aimed at over-fives, the production is as offbeat and sweet as the book, the new material never jarring amid Lobel’s stories of the wind’s visit, the strange bumps in the blanket and filling a kettle with tears. The show captures his owlish wisdom about opening up to the world around you and the perils of being a creature of habit – young or old, feathered or not.
• At Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh , until 30 August
With his hair gelled into tufts, George Williams plays Owl in this adaptation by Rina Vergano and Theatr Iolo , directed by Lee Lyford. We find Williams dozing in an armchair on Anisha Fields’ accomplished set, which retains the cosy essence of Lobel’s illustrations but is less twee. The roost functions as an equally eccentric character in itself, filled with contraptions, dark wooden furniture and a periscope to nervously keep an eye on the world outside.
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Chris Wiegand. Published 27 Aug 2026, 02:53 pm.
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