Smash hit

The only limitation is that sometimes toddlers can go through a phase of neophobia, which is a fear of new things, and will become anxious about loud noises, balloons, clowns and so on. It’s quite normal and should be seen as a phase. Calm them down, and maybe remove them for a while.

Amanda Craig, children’s author

My advice is, be bold! Apart from The Lion King, most stuff put on stage for children is dire, so give them grown-up drama, especially Shakespeare and opera. I think children always respond to lots of action on stage — comedy, fighting, music, good sets and good scripts. Panto is a total washout: there’s far too much smut these days.

If they’re getting restive, it may be because they don’t understand what’s going on. If it’s a play you know, give them a brief run-down of the story the week before. But if they absolutely hate it, don’t hesitate to leave in the interval.

Making it an event also helps. When mine were too young to be self-conscious, they loved dressing up. I remember my son watching Swan Lake dressed in full plastic armour, in case it was too girly.

Gail Porter, presenter

I took Honey to see Mary Poppins recently; I can’t believe how much they charge you — it doesn’t matter whether they’re children or not, it’s £50 a head! But she loves dancing and was completely enthralled.

I tell her to remember that there are other people watching too, so to be considerate, but I tell her if by midway it’s really not your cup of tea then we will leave halfway through. We give her the option, so that she doesn’t think it’s a whole night of misery.

Darcey Bussell, dancer

I’m just starting to take my kids to the theatre; they are 5 and 2. As a child I could never sit still for five minutes, and I would never stick my kids in the front row — we’d be in the back row or near an aisle. I find if you wear them out in the day and make sure they’re well fed before they go in, they’ll be happy to sit. And I always bribe them by telling them that when it’s finished they can have a treat.

I’ve done a lot of school peformances and there’ll always be a child making noises. It doesn’t really bother me unless I’m kissing on stage and the kids start screaming “wooo!”, which is massively distracting, but you have to just try to be professional.

Tamsin Greig, actor