Inside Aardman At Young V&A

Wallace and Gromit may have travelled to the moon for some cheese, but they did so in a vegan rocket made from lentils. Or at least, the rivets, carefully glued to the rocket by Nick Park, were made from painted lentils, and that’s a small nugget of information you learn at Young V&A’s new exhibition about all things Aardman.

As an exhibition, it’s a chance for people (mostly the younger generation) to learn about the art and craft of making animations, as most of the information signs are aimed at future artists. However, unlike some previous Young V&A exhibitions, this one firmly ticks the adult visitor box as well, simply because the icons many of us grew up with are here on display.

From the animals talking about electric central heating to the most recent Christmas special, Vengeance Most Fowl, it’s a chance to ohh and ahh over much-loved (and feared) characters.

The original storyboard from that famous train track is here, along with sketches of Wallace’s home, which actually look quite spooky and sinister when don’t in monochrome. Far from the homely effect in the final animations.

The claymation models are always larger than you might expect, none more so than the huge model of the sailing ship, which turns out to be disassembled for filming. A film showing the animation method shows a metal pole going up a sheep’s bum, so maybe a bit too much information there, but you do get to see how the Accrington Queen came close to disaster on the canal bridge.

And elsewhere, they tell how they put in-jokes into many of the stories, and I suspect that for many, spotting them is as much fun as the rest of the film.

Elsewhere, an example of how stages are designed lets you play with the lighting in the penguin’s prison cell, and I think I did rather well at that. A career in stage lighting clearly beckons.

When I was visiting, pretty much every adult got excited to see the museum where the diamond was stolen from.

And of course, that famous wanted poster.