MATT OLIVER finds out how a classic children’s TV show has hit the big time on stage

HAVE you ever wondered how your child’s favourite TV show would look on stage? CBeebies hit, Grandpa In My Pocket, makes its Oxford debut today, in a live stage show adaptation complete with pirates, stage trickery and bright, colourful set pieces in an experience sure to delight young children.

If you haven’t caught the TV show, it revolves around a boy called Jason Mason, his family and his Grandpa – who has a magic flatcap that allows him to shrink to tiny sizes.

Robin Simpson is playing the titular role of Grandpa while his co-star Javan Hughes is cast as Jason; the only member of the family to know his grandpa’s secret.

“Grandpa lives with the Mason family,” says Robin, “but he has a special relationship with Jason. “They have lots of adventures together, sort out people’s problems and often end up saving the day. Jason, the kid, has to stop his grandpa getting into trouble and that’s something that’s usually the other way round.”

His co-star Javan agrees, and says that a main theme in Grandpa In My Pocket is the role reversal that takes place: “He has to almost constantly clean up after the mess that his grandpa makes,” Javan says, “as well as having some fun along the way. So in their relationship, Jason is the more careful one and Grandpa is never really worried by anything. Instead, Jason does the worrying for him and tries to keep him out of trouble.

“In a way, Jason learns how to deal with things in life through his grandpa’s choices.”

The show is called Teamwork because Grandpa and Jason need each other and have to muddle through and solve the situations they get themselves into together, Javan tells me.

But how do you shrink a full-size man away without the help of the TV studios? “The shrinking is done in a very intricate, inventive way,” Javan explains, “through a wave of sequences and explanations, we see the shrinking happen and the various things that Grandpa can do in a montage – just like the show.”

So how do the stage and TV version differ? “There are certain elements of the TV show in this – there is even some similar dialogue,“ Robin says, “but the stage show is very much tailored to the theatre. “There is music, singing and dance too. It’s more than just an adaptation of the TV show; it is its own beast.”

Last time round was a bit of a trial run, but the brand new stage show was so successful it’s back by popular demand and touring again until September. “The appeal of the show,” Robin remarks, “is the focus on the unique relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren. There is something very special about that relationship.”

Javan agrees: “They can tell you about things that even your parents are too young too remember, about times we can’t imagine. My mother recalls my grandpa as being a very stern man when she was growing up. But when I was a child and he had retired I had a completely different experience of him. We would arrive for breakfast at his house and he would make us giggle and play with us at the table.”

So does the colleagues’ stage relationship translate into real life? “Javan and I get along very well,” Robin laughs, “and that’s really important with a tour like this, because you are with each other virtually all the time.”

Grandpa In My Pocket: Teamwork! is at the Oxford’s New Theatre from August 22-26.

Call the box office on atgtickets.com/oxford or call 0844 8713020.