Shrek is a mod monster.  

The name is Yiddish for terror because he is meant to be a hideous ogre. He is one of the most recent in a long line of monsters that have been a part of children's early education for centuries. The story was written and illustrated by a New Yorker and captured a special place in the hearts of parents and children alike because of modern twists in a traditional love story. Of course the original Shrek complete with a pointy head and very bad acne had to be converted for the film to an image not very far away from yer guy next door (in America that is). it worked. The film was extremely popular.

Many familiar characters were used to embellish the tale - even Alice in Wonderland characters are merged with fairy tales and nursery rhymes now.  

A prince rules a country where the every day fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters lived. We have the journey, the adventure, the rescue of a beautiful princess and of course a dragon. The story was woven around the age old tragedy of living life as a lie.

There was the eventual relief of having the restrictions of living a lie -- removed.  At last the when the truth was told true love could be fulfilled.

Many changes have been made when the Broadway version failed. In the first place the humour is better suited to the Brits, the music swings along and a light hearted look at an ancient (and modern) dilemma is ideally suited to the West End.

The UK stage Shrek has a more human look than the USA stage version.

One of the twists is a female dragon who takes a shine to an unwilling male donkey. The unlikely outcome - notwithstanding the all too familiar uniform of a white veiled wedding - is that the princess fell in love with the ogre and found happiness by being undoubtedly hideous herself though vastly better endowed.. as it were..

The cast list shows the ingenuity of the production to convert a fantasy full of characters to the stage.  It is very well done and an added bonus to the parents who accompany the children.

The Story

A grumpy and obdurate Ogre suddenly finds his ideal habitat of a swamp is invaded by a range of pestilential characters.  Determined to find peace he goes to confront the prince, of dubious character,  who banished them to Shrek's yard in the first place.

Along the way he is challenged to rescue a princess to marry the prince and although the story can be read all over the Net it's better told by going to see the show.

The show opens on 14th June 2011- it's likely to be booked out for June / July pretty quick as it's such a high energy all rounder and great for groups / parties.

This link takes you straight to the best seats. This theatre is large with 1200 seats - some of them are far away from the action- so getting good seats is pivotal to the enjoyment of the play.

Andrew Lloyd Webber owns this house and has tried to keep the tickets reasonable however you can see from the picture you need to be aware of where you want to be.

Advice is - best book now (it's easy - this link goes straight through with no adsy diversions)