The Gruffalo

Published Friday 15 December 2006 at 11:50 by Caroline McGinn

“A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark woods” and into a classic piece of children’s theatre. The Gruffalo returns to London for Christmas, after a UK tour. It’s an imaginative staging of Julia Donaldson’s classic tale - Fox, Owl, Snake, Gruffalo and the narrators are played by Jonathan Race and James Gitsham, who tower over Abbey Norman’s little Mouse. The music and action is calculated to please young children, and the tale is so well-beloved that the actors can pause at each appropriate moment in the poem and wait for the kids to scream “Gruffalo!”.

True, The Gruffalo on stage loses some of the impeccable parent appeal of the tastefully illustrated, nicely rhymed original. And true, the costumes are a little sketchy for some of the younger kids, who won’t get a firm notion of Owl from an RAF flyer’s scarf and a few feathers in the hair. But it’s exuberant and charming, and the songs which extend the characters - Joachim the Snake is bedecked in sequins and rhumbas around the floor with a sleazy panache - also extend its appeal to the upper end of the age group.

This is one of the best pieces of theatre on offer for kids in London over the holiday period.