The cast of Starlight Theatre Productions' Wind in the Willows with the Royal Society of Wildlife Trust's stop motion figures and Northumberland Wildlife Trust Volunteer Georgina Moroney at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House. Image by: Fiona Dryden.
Mole, Badger, Ratty and Toad tread the boards
The four stop motion figures from this summer’s Royal Society of Wildlife Trust’s Wind in the Willows trailer, featuring Stephen Fry, Alison Steadman, Catherine Tait, Asim Chaudhry and Sir David Attenborough, made a visit to the Tyne Theatre & Opera House in Newcastle this weekend to meet their human counterparts.
At the end of the summer, Northumberland Wildlife Trust was invited to fundraise for its conservation work during the weeklong performances of The Wind in the Willows being staged by Starlight Theatre Productions.
The musical, written by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame book contains great songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. It features the larger than life Mr Toad and his friends Ratty, Badger and Mole the Wild Wooders and a kidnapped otter called Portia.
Talking about the opportunity to fundraise in the Theatre, Liz Lovatt, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Marketing Officer said: “It was brilliant of Kim Wilde from Starlight Theatre Productions and the Tyne Theatre & Opera House to allow us fundraise for our conservation work.
“If anything is going to inspire people to support wildlife, it’s watching two hours of singing and dancing otters, weasels, foxes, stoats and field mice, not to mention the fab four - all the wildlife Northumberland Wildlife Trust is working tirelessly to protect.
“It was like watching a nature programme set to music. It was amazing and well worth watching.”
Starlight Theatre Productions is a multi-award winning theatre company based in Newcastle upon Tyne with actors of all ages performing a variety of shows each year. Follow them on Facebook @wemtc and Twitter @StarlightThProd.