{"id":49323,"date":"2026-04-15T09:50:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T09:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/?p=49323"},"modified":"2026-04-15T09:52:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T09:52:26","slug":"a-gruffalo-why-didnt-you-know-its-coming-to-the-devonshire-park-theatre-this-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/a-gruffalo-why-didnt-you-know-its-coming-to-the-devonshire-park-theatre-this-month\/","title":{"rendered":"A GRUFFALO? WHY DIDN\u2019T YOU KNOW?…\u00a0IT\u2019S COMING TO\u00a0THE DEVONSHIRE PARK THEATRE THIS MONTH!\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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THE GRUFFALO<\/strong>
Based on the nation\u2019s\u00a0favourite picture book by\u00a0Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler<\/p>

DEVONSHIRE PARK THEATRE, EASTBOURNE<\/strong>
Friday\u00a024 April 1.30pm & 4.30pm,\u00a0Saturday\u00a025\u00a0& Sunday 26\u00a0April 10.30am\u00a0& 1.30pm
Age restriction\u00a03+ years<\/p>

Tall Stories\u2019 much-loved stage adaptation of The Gruffalo celebrates 25 years of inspiring young imaginations with a UK-wide tour,\u00a0coming to Eastbourne\u2019s\u00a0Devonshire Park Theatre, 24-26\u00a0April.<\/strong>\u00a0Adapted from Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler\u2019s award-winning picture book, Tall Stories\u2019\u00a0The Gruffalo live on stage<\/strong>\u00a0invites young audiences into a world of joy,\u00a0silliness\u00a0and curiosity where everything is possible.<\/p>

Over 25 years, the show has been experienced by over 3 million people, travelled to 18 different countries, been translated into 7 different languages, and the Gruffalo has been performed by 37 actors. Produced by Tall Stories (The Gruffalo’s Child, The\u00a0Smeds\u00a0and The\u00a0Smoos, The Elmer Adventure, Wilde Creatures<\/em>).<\/p>

A classic \u2018David and Goliath\u2019 story, \u2018The Gruffalo\u2019 centres on a tiny creature outwitting a huge creature in this well-loved tale of curiosity, courage and imagination. The little Mouse is on a daring adventure in search of hazelnuts through the deep, dark wood. Along the way, Mouse meets the cunning Fox, the eccentric old Owl and the high-spirited Snake, each with a special story to tell – with catchy, clap-along ska, disco and rock inspired songs. To save himself from ending up as dinner for these hungry woodland creatures, Mouse shares tall tales of a terrifying Gruffalo who lurks in the deep dark wood.<\/p>

Tall Stories\u2019 original and distinctive storytelling theatre style welcomes everyone in with its playfulness, puppetry, songs, and humour. Families are invited to rediscover the joy of storytelling, sparking creativity and inspiring children and grown-ups alike to keep playing, long after they leave the theatre.<\/p>

Director\u00a0Olivia Jacobs,\u00a0talks about how the company does it: \u201cEach new production of The Gruffalo evolves a bit differently depending on the casting. We\u2019re always seeking new ways to connect with our audience \u2013 and get them laughing. We encourage each performer to improvise, discover their personal take on the characters, and uncover new moments of imagination and magic. We experiment with new ideas to help give Owl a sense of flight, or to trace Mouse\u2019s journey more vividly, or to add a more playful physicality to Fox that perfectly suits his confident, cheeky nature. Each actor who plays the Gruffalo brings something uniquely their own to the part, aiming to strike just the right balance between scary and funny to delight our audiences. The cast improvise elements of the show every day, and it\u2019s the sense of playfulness, audience connection, creativity and unpredictable energy that make Tall Stories\u2019 shows so special, and never the same twice<\/em>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

Come take\u00a0a stroll with\u00a0Mouse\u00a0through the deep dark wood and\u00a0see\u00a0The Gruffalo\u00a0<\/strong>at the\u00a0Devonshire Park Theatre, 24-26\u00a0April.
Ages 3+ years.
<\/strong>Tickets at\u00a0eastbournetheatres.co.uk<\/a>, Box Office 01323 412000.
<\/strong>Standard tickets \u00a318.50, Under 16s, Groups and Family rates available.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

image: \u00a9Mark-Senio<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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THE GRUFFALO Based on the nation\u2019s\u00a0favourite picture book by\u00a0Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler DEVONSHIRE PARK THEATRE, EASTBOURNE Friday\u00a024 April 1.30pm & 4.30pm,\u00a0Saturday\u00a025\u00a0& Sunday 26\u00a0April 10.30am\u00a0& 1.30pm Age restriction\u00a03+ years Tall Stories\u2019 much-loved stage adaptation of The Gruffalo celebrates 25 years of inspiring young imaginations with a UK-wide tour,\u00a0coming to Eastbourne\u2019s\u00a0Devonshire Park Theatre, 24-26\u00a0April.\u00a0Adapted from Julia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":49324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[724],"tags":[],"directory-category":[],"event_categories":[],"class_list":["post-49323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-fun"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-04-26 09:46:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49323"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49331,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49323\/revisions\/49331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49323"},{"taxonomy":"directory-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/directory-category?post=49323"},{"taxonomy":"event_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/eastbourne-wealden-lewes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_categories?post=49323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}