Kids in London - Looking for JJ (Unicorn Theatre)

Visting this stunning new children's theatre in the ultra-modern More London area near Tower Bridge is an experience in itself. As you walk from London Bridge station down Tooley street, you pass the queue for The London Dungeon, wander in the shops of Hays Galleria and play in the block water features outside the largest new More London offices. You then pass a construction site and start to worry that you are in the wrong place.

But then you see it - a large glass and chrome building containing - you got it - a large sparkly white unicorn! The building really is lovely - beautiful dark wood walls, careful inset blue lighting, a large modern and open cafeteria, staircases that are slightly remininscent of the National Theatre with open balconies looking onto the main foyer. The walls are covered in large brightly coloured portrait photos of children and studded with occasional holographic images. The staff are lovely - really friendly and welcoming. The Weston theatre is up several flights of stairs (there are lifts though) and is a large but intimate amphitheatre with soft bench seating.

It was such a pity that on the crisp Saturday afternoon when we went along, the theatre was only a third full. What a waste of such a fabulous theatre and of such an excellent production!

I must say though that I was a bit surprised at the themes. Recommended for 11+ "Looking for JJ" is about child murderers, changed identities on release from prison, mothers who move from modelling to prostitution and "uncles" who want to take dubious photos of young girls dressed in uniforms. Not exactly the sort of stuff you want to present to impressionable young kids. Anyway. Enough about the moral issue.

The production itself was excellent. A clever interplay between dramatic and multimedia presentation - it worked well. The references to how Myspace plays such a huge part of young people's lives was appropriately managed. The characters were good - credible although a couple of times the 10 year olds came across as closer to six year olds. My daughter was delighted that the actress who plays Kelsey in Casualty was in the cast.

So. The production was good and the storyline compelling. Switching between present day and memories was handled subtley (lead actress hair in a ponytail or loose). But it left us with a lot to think about - and not much of it was happy. My daughter kept asking questions about aspects of the plot and the characters for days afterwards, so I figure it had a big impact on her.

Anyway. Overall, I thoroughly recommend the venue for children's entertainment - it was really first rate. On "Looking for JJ" I would suggest that it is more for teenagers as I really think that its themes are a bit too much for those under 13.