Little Red Riding Hood Presented by Northern Ballet at Gala Durham- review (AD)
We were kindly invited to watch Little Red Riding Hood Presented by Northern Ballet at Gala Durham in exchange for an honest review*.
This was the first ballet we’ve been to and so I thought the relaxed performance might be best.
We hopped on the park and ride bus into Durham, which Elsie absolutely loves (any bus journey is a win in her book).
Little Red Riding Hood show information
A little kindness goes a long way in this playful retelling of the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood.
Little Red Riding Hood is a kind little girl who loves her family. On the way to visit her grandmother, she meets a very hungry wolf in the woods – but is he really as ‘big and bad’ as the stories say?
Join Little Red on an enchanting adventure as she discovers the importance of kindness, makes some unexpected friends, and learns that things aren’t always as they seem.
A reimagining of the much-loved fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood is the perfect opportunity for your little ones to enjoy the magic of live ballet, music, and theatre.
With sell-out performances and a series of hugely successful CBeebies TV adaptations, Northern Ballet’s productions for children continue to delight audiences year after year.
Running time: approximately 40 minutes
Visit the Gala Durham website for other upcoming family shows.
My overall thoughts on Little Red Riding Hood
There’s something really special about taking your child to a performance of live theatre — the way they sit a little straighter, completely drawn in, like they’ve stumbled into something a bit magical.
Little Red Riding Hood by Northern Ballet at Gala Durham captures that feeling so gently and so well.
At just 40 minutes long, it doesn’t try to be anything too big or overwhelming.
This was our first proper family trip to a ballet, and we went to the relaxed performance—which, honestly, I think is such a brilliant idea.
It takes away that pressure of needing everything to be perfectly quiet or still, and just lets kids experience it in their own way.
Gala Durham always seems to get this right, offering relaxed performances for family shows and it makes such a difference.
Seeing so many little faces completely absorbed in what was happening on stage was one of those unexpectedly lovely moments.
My daughter already knows the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but seeing it told through dance felt completely different.
There’s something about ballet that slows things down and lets the story unfold in a softer, more expressive way. It felt a bit like watching a familiar story through a new lens.
The live music added so much to it as well. It gave the whole performance a sense of energy and warmth that you just don’t get from a recording or reading.
And the set design was really clever—simple, but effective, shifting from cosy home scenes to a storybook-style forest in a way that kept everything moving without losing the younger audience’s attention.
What I really appreciated was the heart behind it. This version of the story leans away from anything too scary and instead focuses on kindness, understanding, and not judging too quickly. It’s a lovely message, especially for younger children.
The addition of woodland characters brings a bit of humour too, even if some moments do repeat themselves slightly.
By the end, with the whole cast coming together in a joyful final scene, there’s this lovely feeling that something has clicked.
Not just in the story, but in the audience too. Like maybe this is the start of something—a first step into theatre, into dance, into live performance as a whole.
And I’d happily go again for that reason alone.
A huge thank you to Gala Durham for the gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review.
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*Disclaimer
This review has been written with 100% honesty.
I was not financially compensated for this post. I was invited to this show in return for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own based on my own experience.
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