During this free children's show in Maggies Chambers at the Three Sisters Pub, Phil the Shepherd introduces himself throughout as he tries to put his sheep, or children, to sleep. Not the most engaging of situations for a child. However, the children seemed interested in keeping awake simply to rebel against the Shepherd. The performance is structured into different sections based around poetry and word play. Audience interaction comes in the form of waking up Mac the Worm - who has an obsession with apples, finishing off lines of poetry, and joining in with the choruses.The biggest problem, unfortunately, was the space. Used primarily as a live music venue, the audience’s distance from the stage, and pillars across the auditorium created a space in which children aren't easily engaged. The show needed an intimate space to involve all the children and because it was not, many seemed to lose interest.The poetry was at times clever and two big plasma screens featuring cartoons and animations were an added visual stimulus which helped engage the children. Most of the poetry was delivered without a sound track or any backing noise, leaving a obvious gap of silence making it more difficult for the children to remain attentive. The finale was a interactive poem based on the new film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which got members of the audience to become different characters.Although it would have worked much better in an intimate space, the show still entertained in the most part, and kept the interest of the majority of the children.
