AS the house lights went down the rustling of sweet wrappers and the children's' excited chattering stopped and all went eerily quiet.

A small wood appeared on stage and this wonderful adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Schaeffer's The Gruffalo sprang to life. It enthralled the children as soon as the mouse, played by Abby Norman, " took a stroll through the deep, dark wood".

Interaction was soon introduced with questions to the audience, comedic comments and toe-tapping songs. Children finished the lines they knew by heart, no doubt having learned them from their well-thumbed, award winning books.

Jonathan Race and Mark Peachey brought great fun to the characters they played. The cockney fox bounding up and down on stage to music, the wing commander owl with his Biggles-style scarf dishing out orders and, particularly memorable, the maraca-wielding Spanish snake who brought laughter to both young and old. Even the scary Gruffalo brought smiles from the audience.

This was a marvellously acted and well timed performance and will surely encourage the younger theatre goers to visit again.

Review by STUART PURFIELD.