Go get ‘em boys!

Last weekend, myself and my wife took the kids to the theatre to see Lazytown Live.

We also took one of my son’s friends along for the day, so there were two adults and three kids. We took the train, as it beats taking five by car, and we thought it’d result in a little less stress too. It probably did help a bit on the stress front, but along the way I discovered that I find shepherding three young kids running around in a busy city centre to be very stressful. I’m used to two of them, and I can mostly watch both of them at the same time, but three – well, I don’t have enough resources to keep an eye on what they are all doing at the same time. Cue stress and tetchy shouting on my part.

Anyway – the show was fun, and the kids enjoyed it – it was quite funny seeing their little faces agog at the familiar characters from the TV being on the stage in front of them. For our two kids it was the first time they’d been to a theatre to see a show, but they both took it in their stride, and when pantomime time comes round next Christmas, I suspect we’ll be taking them to see that too.

For one kid, in the row behind us, the show was something else completely. He was maybe about nine in age, and he was absolutely caught up in the action. Completely engrossed. At several points in the show he jumped out of his seat and shouted loudly across the theatre, to the embarrassment of his mum.

I had a smile on my face – his behaviour was somehow familiar. I remembered a story my mother reels out every now and again to embarrass me. When I was about the same age as the boy in the row behind us, my mum took me and my brother to the cinema, to see a Saturday afternoon Matinee performance of Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I too got rather caught up in the excitement of the film, it seems, and at one point shouted, “Go get em boys!” at the top of my lungs across the packed cinema, much to the embarrassment of my mother.

I don’t remember doing this, and I don’t do things like this nowadays, but I still get caught up in a good show and feel strong emotions welling up in me. The Lazytown show had me close to welling up with tears. Why? I’m not totally sure, but my thoughts at the time surrounded how well they had translated a TV show to the stage, and how slick and clever, yet simple the set was. I admired the job they’s done of putting on a show.

I hope that like me, the boy in the row behind us never loses his passion for life. Getting engrossed in activities is one of the most pleasurable things I do, and I knew just how he felt during those 90 minutes of theatre.

Oh, and a little part of me wonders if – just maybe – he was on the spectrum somewhere.

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