Charles Way's adaptation of Mary Norton's classic books, about a family of little people who live underneath the floorboards of an old house, is likely to prove a little slow for those familiar with Peter Hewitt's unfaithful but immensely exciting movie version with John Goodman as the baddie, and lacking in detail for those who fondly remember the BBC series starring Ian Holm and Penelope Wilton.
It has, however, oodles of charm on its side, although it does make you wish that those adapting children's novels would take a leaf out of the book of stage adapters such as Polly Teale (Jane Eyre) and Helen Edmundson (Mill On the Floss, War and Peace) who have shown that books only really come alive in the theatre when narrative plays second fiddle to the internal experience of the characters.
There is something a mite stodgy about this version, although Vicky Ireland's clever production plays neatly with perspective so the world of human beings co-exists with the tiny Borrowers, who are sometimes represented by puppets and sometimes by real actors. It is a measure of the production's magic and the seamlessness of the stagecraft that you almost completely forget which is which.
Less successful is the attempt to use the story as an educational tool about refugees. The final scene with the gypsy who wishes the Borrowers, outcasts like himself, "good luck to you and all your kind" reeks of an unnecessary political correctness.
After all, Norton's books don't need to have a theme imposed upon them to make them connect with our own time. They are already, in the story of Arrietty Clock who longs to escape the dark under- the-floorboards world where she lives and discover the world beyond, about the growing up and growing away process that is part of the relationship of every child and his or her parents. The evening's most poignant moment comes when, told of her cousin's unfortunate accident with a cat, Arrietty declares: "At least she got out and saw the blue sky and tall grass. Just once."
But this is an enjoyable enough Christmas treat, enlivened by Rosalind Paul's Arrietty and Richard Tate's long-suffering, amiable Pod and most of all by Norton's natural sense of justice - her belief that little people are just as important as big ones. Children will warm to that.
Until February 5. Box office: 0181-543 4888
