The Jungle is coming and everyone is going wild for it!

The Jungle Book has come to the stage once more, in an epic 2-hour performance that will make you feel every emotion possible. Inspired by the original film and book, Jessica Swale’s ‘The Jungle Book’ takes on the amazing story of young Mowgli’s adventures in the wild.

Photographed by Manuel Harlan

‘The play with songs’ is based on the story from Rudyard Kipling and is directed by Max Webster (The Lorax).

Whilst the songs may not be the Disney classics, you would never have thought they weren’t. The stunning music throughout is written by Joe Stilgoe and performed by the insanely talented cast, who not only played a variety of characters but also performed as the orchestra as well.

The amazing cast consisted of Keziah Joseph ( Mowgli)  Rachel Dawson (Kaa Grey) Lloyd Gorman (Shere Khan) TJ Holmes (Hiran) Avita Jay  (Raksha) Dyfrig Morris (Balloo) Deborah Oyelade (Bagheera) Tripti Tripuraneni (Akala)

They all did a fantastic job of bringing the life and soul of the Jungle to the Liverpool Playhouse, whilst delivering stunning vocals.

Even though the costumes could have been more realistic, it gave the play a more relatable feel, with the story touching upon trust, friendship and our relationship with animals.

Keziah Joseph who played Mowgli brought a huge amount of energy into the role and despite being a young woman, she perfectly transformed into the role of a young boy who had been raised in the wild.

Photographed by Manuel Harlan

As Keziah said, this was only her 3rd job since leaving education and the first musical she has performed in but you seriously could not tell! She made the stage her own, commanding the space with ease and gripping the audience in with her vibrant performance.

Keziah was shocked to find out she had landed the role as Mowgli as she said: “They weren’t always looking for girls, “I was brought in quite late in the process and they were just wanting to see really.

“Then I found out the next day that I had got the part!”

To play such a renowned character, despite being the opposite gender and quite a few years older than young Mowgli, Keziah decided she would need to bring all the energy she could muster into the role. That way the audience wouldn’t care about the finer details such as gender. As Keziah said:

“Mowgli isn’t actually a boy or girl, it’s open for the audience to project whatever they feel that Mowgli is,

“Sometimes I play Mowgli as a girl, sometimes I play Mowgli as a boy, sometimes I don’t think about either, I just think about the energy.”

And energy she brought!

The Jungle Book will be touring across the UK coming to The Lowry on the 2nd-6th May. To find out when the tour is coming to a place near you and how to purchase tickets search The Jungle Book website.