Aliens Love Underpants Live, Oakengates Theatre, Telford - review

My daughter and I took an hour or so out of our busy half-term schedule to fit in some live theatre, Aliens Love Underpants Live, to be exact.

Having read the book many an evening before bedtime, I was probably looking forward to the stage production as much as my four-year-old, Annabelle, but even still we were both pleasantly surprised with what we saw.

The premise centres around Timmy, whom we late discover is actually called Tim Peake – a nice touch – who becomes embroiled in the biggest underpants theft the planet has ever seen.

There were only four actors taking on all the roles, with some playing up to three parts, but they did it very well and with ease, keeping the children happy and on the edge of their seats throughout.

Annabelle nearly fell off hers she while screaming the aliens were behind one of the characters, stealing the underpants before her very eyes, while she didn't even seem to notice.

Timmy also loves science, and his science teacher, so we were treated to clips from the original moon landings, as well as theories behind why there is every possibility aliens could exist somewhere out there in space . . . pretty deep stuff.

And we were also treated to a trip to Pants R Us once the underpants started going missing, because of course that's the first place you'd shop at.

The aliens themselves were either beamed onto the back of the staged using a projector when in their spacecraft or turned into small hand puppets.

By the end they had grown in size and were carried around by the actors, and also started speaking English, which was handy for us.

It was then we discovered why the aliens were stealing the underpants. It was all based around the fact the aliens were not following the washing instructions correctly and the colours were fading, much to their dismay.

In a touching nod to joys of general studies in school or college, the aliens were taught the symbols etched into the rocks of their home planet (real name Planet Janet) were in fact washing instructions, meaning wash on 40 degrees, do not iron and do not tumble dry. Although no-one knew what the triangle stood was for . . .

To be fair, it actually reminded me how little I know about washing delicates but enough of that because it was all about the aliens, tracking them down, explaining how we could all live in peace – without having to resort to stealing underwear – and then finishing on another of their superb songs, which had all the children, and some of the adults, clapping and singing along.

Hats off to the actors too because they could all certainly hold a note.

The afternoon was a lot of fun, all the children enjoyed themselves and at around 55 minutes they were entertained just long before any of them started climbing the walls or wrecking the theatre.

Definitely one worth catching with your young family if you have the time.