To think this is quite late for a play marketed for children

[TheOrigRightsofwomen]

Great Aunt has asked whether DS2 (8) would like to go to theatre.
It's The Jungle Book.

It's the last week of term, so not during the holidays.

There is a matinee on the Thurs (DS will be at school) and the Saturday so that's an option (though there are hardly any seats left for that unsurprisingly).

It's over 2hrs long and starts at 7pm.
I'm not precious about bed times, but I do question whether this time is ideal for children of 6 years old.

AIBU?

well, wouldn't have been a problem at all for me....but each to their own.

It’s only one night. Maybe that’s the standard timings that they do? It does say from age 6+ so although a bit late (but still fine as a one off) certainly from ages 9 onward it wouldn’t be an issue at all.

I can’t imagine anyone with kids who wanted to see it would be put off by the time.

But your child is 8? Who is 6?

Is he 6 or 8? Ask her to try and get the Saturday show if she can.

If there are matinees then they won’t be able to get another performance started before 7pm...

It's pretty standard.

There are always loads of young children at evening performances of child friendly productions.

I remember The Railway Children being brilliant because I could always see perfectly over the heads of the tiny people in front of me. (And the theatre had an excellent rake).

I would imagine most 6 years olds are capable of staying up till 9pm aren’t they?

OK. Fair enough.
To clarify. My son is 8, but the site suggests it's suitable for children 6+

It was more a general question really.

I've often thought my children went to bed later than many; more 8 / 8.30pm rather than the 7pm you read a lot of on here. That's not to say those who normally go at 7pm would not be able to stay up until 9pm, just that I was thinking it was kind of late for them to really enjoy.

It’s standard time really. Most evening shows are between 7 & 8pm. Generally earliest time is 6.30pm to allow for matinees/cast to do some rehearsals/schooling/have a life outside of the theatre dependent on age/commitments/length of run.

Shows only tend to be earlier for the under 7s age group where a show will probably only run for an hour & then it’s usually a 11am & 2.30pm or 4.30pm show.

For a show like Jungle Book they’ll know there’ll be a good percentage of the audience who’ll be adults so from an accessibility/profitable perspective they need to give people time to attend after work (& food).

So you think that anything aimed at children should only start before 5pm?

What about the parents who don't finish work until 5 or 6?

It's not mandatory that people attend. You either go, or you don't.

Surely all evening performances aimed at children start around that time.

If you don’t want to go in the evening you go to the matinee which is usually round 2pm, or 11am if it’s a pantomime.

Evening performances are ....well, they are in the evening. After school and work and dinner and travelling to the theatre. I’m betting if you looked up pretty much any show that included children at pretty much any theatre you’d see roughly the same start time. Very normal.

Alright, I have already said fair enough. It was a simple question and I have the answer now.

Gosh sprightly do you jump down people's throats like that in RL?

We too DD to panto starting at 7. Was fine. She even slept in the next day.

Your DC will love it.

It should be fine for a one off OP. Ask your aunt to try for the Saturday show?

Would be too late for us but not for everyone.

My ds1 (9) would be fine my 4 and 6 yr old would prob fall asleep as they are rubbish at staying awake past 8pm

Depends on the child. My kids would have been fine with that.

In fact my DD performed in a show that was weeknight and went on until 10pm and happily got up for school the next day.

Just like adults some kids can cope fine with the odd late night, some need a full 12 hours or they feel terrible.

Find a time, and take up this offer one way or another. I took a 5 year old and an 8 year old to it last week (assume it's the same tour), and we all loved it. 5 year old coped fine with being out in the evening, I think it made more of a special occasion. In fairness, I only borrowed them for the evening, so it was not me who had to cope with over tired children next day. It's worth reading the book, the play is a fresh adaptation from the original, rather than being based on previous films etc