Review: How to Train Your Dragon - Arena Spectacular

My review of the World Premiere of How to Train Your Dragon - Arena Spectacular in Melbourne is now published online by Stage Whispers.

The production was a hybrid theatre-movie event, with projection just as important as the dragons themselves. As a spectacle it does well. However the audience needs to indicate its appreciation far more than it does. Parents, please teach your children how to clap their hands when patronising live theatre.

Read the review
Read my earlier media call wrap

Sneak Peek: How to Train Your Dragon - Arena Spectacular

This morning I joined the media pack to get a sneak peek at the World Premiere of How to Train Your Dragon at Hisense Arena in Melbourne.


After three months of rehearsals, the Director Nigel Jamieson told me he is ‘not getting too much sleep’ saying while the show is completely safe, there are so many interconnected computer cues, that the slightest glitch has the potential to bring the show undone.

Hisense Arena is a mighty large, three-dimensional stage. And it needs to be in order to accommodate the show’s stars. Twenty-four dragons dwarfed their human counterparts, who had to battle for our attention this morning.

Each of the five largest dragons weighs 1.6tons, that’s about the weight of your family car, and each requires three operators: one driver and two voodoo puppeteers, with one manipulating head, tail and gross motor movement, and the other minor movements such as eyes, mouth and roars. Continue reading

Read my review of the World Premiere in Melbourne