The Ocean at the End of the Lane at New Wimbledon Theatre

I saw The Ocean at the End of the Lane when it first appeared on stage at Dorfman Theatre in 2020 and it was an easy decision to go and see it again when the touring version came to New Wimbledon Theatre.

I treated myself to a seat in the front row of Dress Circle (A19) which cost a very reasonable £41.

I had not been to New Wimbledon Theatre since the very excellent Benidorm in 2019 so I was not confident that I had a plan for eating beforehand so I was very pleased to see that Mai Thai was still there. I had a really excellent red curry, with lots of flavours and textures, washed down with a pint of Singha. It was the perfect start to the eveving.

The Dress Circle did the job and I had a great view.

I remembered that I enjoyed it the first time but had forgotten the story so it was good to be able to see it as if it was a new show.

The story, like Stardust, mixed the real world with a world of magic and had an important boundary between the two. It was also a fairly simple story of a normal boy being drawn into a world of magic and having to fight daemons with the help of a young girl and her family.

The magic of the story came more from the production, e.g. the sets, costumes and lighting, than the story and it was strong magic too, creating an exceedingly rich show.

Only a little thing, but I liked the way that the cast had some regional accents and somehow Geordie felt right for a grounded man and West Country right for a magical girl.

As you would expect for a major production, all of the cast were very good and Millie Hikasa as the magical girl Lettie Hempstock impressed me the most.

Probably because it was aimed at a (much) younger audience, The Ocean at the End of the Lane never got scary despite the impressive monsters which limited its appeal to me (Coraline is much scarier) but it was all nicely done and it was thoroughly entertaining.