The idea that theatre for the very young can embrace ritual, awaken the senses and conjure a complete world, just as you'd expect from the best theatre for adults, is still a novelty. Too much theatre for the under-fives still concentrates on being charming and not frightening the kiddies while it keeps them quiet for half an hour.
So CTC's rich, tapestry-like journey into the ecology of a fish-eats-fish and little-seed-to-big-apple-tree world is a real little gem. It is so textured with visual delights, spicy smells, the sounds of windchimes and waves, and the gentle feel of the breeze on your face. As the aquamarine chiffon sea rises and falls, you want to reach out, grab it and gobble it down. There is something deliciously tactile about this performance, although the audience has to be content with sharing a slice of apple, one of many lovely, tiny little touches in this well thought out show, and one that emphasises the shared and social nature of theatre itself.
Those who insist on educational content in work for children will be satisfied by the exploration of the elements and the reminder that fish rhymes with wish (so crucial for those baselines assessments). But you can get all that with the Tweenies and repeats of Playdays.
What this show offers is something else entirely - an intensely theatrical experience that invites its audience into an imaginative world where we are instantly persuaded that a handful of paper thrown in the air is snow, that a length of material is the sea and that the average sparrow has a relationship with your average phoenix.
Some of its success is to do with the gentle wit of the two performers and their interaction with each other and the audience. The rest is due to its faith that children can read signs and symbols as surely as adults, and a drawing on the fantasy world of the subconscious. Children will respond instinctively; grown-ups and grown-up theatre could learn a lot.
At the Polka, London SW19 (0181-543 4888), till Saturday, then touring.
