Sequel hardly monstrous

The Gruffalo's Child
Pleasance, N1
***

Now, keep up at the back. In The Gruffalo, the much-loved picture-book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, the eponymous monster was bested by a clever little mouse.

In this sequel, lovingly and simply brought to the stage by Tall Stories TC, Gruff junior wants to see for herself whether Dad is telling the truth about this now-legendary rodent.

Although the running time is a toddler-friendly 50 minutes, that's still something of a stretch for 76 lines of cute rhyming verse.

Adaptor Toby Mitchell has fleshed out the action and director Olivia Jacobs involves her enthusiastic cast of three in some inventive storytelling as they scamper through the revolving trees in a variety of roles.

Morag Cross makes a wonderfully comforting narrator as she talks us through the mini-monster's daring journey into the deep, dark wood.

Angela Laverick's Gruffalo is an irrepressible ball of energy in a furry jumpsuit and the nursery school children behind me particularly appreciated Rowan Talbot's continual reappearance as different animals.

The little guy wins through and might isn't proved to be right: what better message could Gruffa-holics of all ages take away with them?