Big kid creates a stage world for little kids

By REBECCA BARRY

It would be easy to presume Anna Louizos would have bypassed a kids' stage show for the glamour of Broadway or television - she was art director on the last season of Sex and the City, is credited with a number of stage show sets in New York and worked on the Tony Awards for four years.

But Louizos has a thing for Tigger, above all of A.A. Milne's famous characters.

"I think I'm like a big kid myself," says the set designer of Winnie the Pooh and the Perfect Day. "I certainly love his exuberance."

Excited by the scale of the Disney production, the American designer set to work creating Winnie the Pooh's magical world within the theatre, complete with season changes and the mechanics so her favourite character could execute "extraordinary physical feats on stage".

"I hope what I've created is a world that will allow children's imaginations to soar and will create a number of surprises," she says.

"With theatre you're not really restricted by having to create reality on stage. You're actually creating an imaginary world.

"I think for children it fosters their creativity and gives them freedom to imagine things more."