Dinosaur World Live will roar into Chesterfield for interactive show including meet and greet

Dinosaur World Live uses stunning puppetry to bring prehistoric creatures to life in an entertaining and educational show for all the family.

Every child’s favourite flesh-eating giant, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, along with a Giraffatitan, Microraptor, Segnosaurus and Triceratops will appear in the show at the Winding Wheel Theatre on August 7 and 8, 2023. Children will be able to meet and greet the dinosaurs after the show which is aimed at 3+ years.

The production introduces Miranda, daughter of palaeontologists, who grew up surrounded by dinosaurs on a far-away island off the coast of South America. She is travelling around theatres with her prehistoric pals and would love you to meet them but warns that some of these dinosaurs aren’t as docile as they seem.

Derek Bond, writer and director of Dinosaur World Live, said: “It’s a 50-minute interactive show with giant dinosaurs. Our biggest is nearly ten metres long and takes four people to puppeteer it." That mega dinosaur is Titus, the T-rex. Derek said: “It’s amazing. When Titus emerges, the audiences either jump out of their seats or hide under them! But when Miranda needs help to drive Titus back off the stage, everybody joins in. It’s a great to see children overcoming their fear and fiercely roaring at a 10m long T-rex!

"It’s an inspirational show – it fires the imagination and teaches you things you might not know about famous dinosaurs like T-rex and triceratops, but also introduces you to dinosaurs you might not have heard of like microraptor and segnosaurus.”

Puppet maker Max Humphries said that it took nine months from initially drawing the dinosaurs to their first show. Max’s biggest challenge was to keep them light and strong. He said: “They’re made of a skeleton of very light aluminium metal. The more complex moving parts are a mix of nylon, steel, aluminium and birch. Then over that is a skin of super-lightweight foam for the muscles and then the skin is either made out of cloth or treated fur for the feathers.

“There are no electronics or hydraulics in our puppets, everything is people-powered by our great team of puppeteers, so you have to maintain a workable weight whilst also packing the most stuff into the puppets as possible."

Tickets for Dinosaur World Live cost £15.50. Go to www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.ukor call 01246 345222.