Have you ever thought what a bizarre scene it is in the nursery rhyme, “Hey Diddle Diddle”? A cat with a fiddle? The laughing dog? A cow jumps over the moon? A cow? How? And, what is the deal with that dish and spoon dashing off together?
Turns out there’s a good story there, at least according to Patch Theatre Company’s Yo Diddle Diddle, which shows us one cow’s dream of jumping over the moon, set to hip hop style.
A trio of actors play the DJ Dog, the Cat, who is determined to write a Mother Goose worthy rhyme, despite a run of false starts, and the Cow, who chews and chews, and carts around her dish and spoon like security blankets. Cat, working with what she has around her, decides that the cow jumping over the moon would make a legendary rhyme and Cow, in turn, becomes wholly enchanted with this idea. It turns out that it’s not exactly easy to get a cow over the moon, and their increasingly clever attempts span the rest of the 45 minute performance.
There isn’t really a lot to this story (try to get the cow over the moon, miss, try again, repeat), but the seeming impossibility of the task is a perfect tale for young children because, as it turns out, nothing is impossible in a child’s imagination, and it sure is fun to try. By the first attempt, kids in the audience of our show were shouting out, “you can do it, Cow!” and when things start to look lost for our hero, all corners of the audience were, without prompting from the actors, telling her, “Don’t give up, Cow!”. It’s a testament to the charming actors that children felt so compelled to cheer for their big, bold dream.
There are some nice surprises along the journey, aided by clever set and lights. The nursery rhymes meet hip hop musical convention connects immediately with kids. The recommended age is 4+, but I think you could go as young as 3, and up to about age 7.
My Miss 5 is usually the queen of the poker face at the theatre, but in this show, she was wide-grinned, giggling, and literally perched on the edge of her seat from the moment the lights dimmed, whispering her theories in my ear, throughout. Yo Diddle Diddle is funny, hip, quick, and familiar; and you can’t help but find yourself on Team Cow.
Yo Diddle Diddle runs through October 14 at the Sydney Opera House.
We attended this performance as guests of the Sydney Opera House.