Over the past few years, Battersea Arts Centre has exemplified all that is young, exciting and contemporary in theatre - without forgetting that one of its purposes is to give people a good night out. That is never better demonstrated than in its Christmas shows. At this year's effort, like many in the audience, I spent much of the evening with a smile on my face.
Carl Heap's production puts the Morris dancing into Greek mythology. The framing device is an English village fete, complete with Guess the Number of Sweets in the Jar, giant marrows and Hera and Zeus as the fancy folk up at the big house. This may be a mite strained, but it has the benefit of turning the remote heroes and antiheroines (Medea, though young, demonstrates a well-developed capacity for murder) into recognisable stereotypes. Single mum Aphrodite is having trouble with her cherubic teenage son, Eros, while Hercules is a big softie who loves his dog.
What's great about the show - besides the intelligent, jokey script and the rough-and-ready inventiveness of the staging - is that it is totally involving in every way, from the storytelling to the audience participation. The latter has the audience helping out with the map-reading (an ancient Ordinance survey of Southend- on-Sea), rowing in the galleys or raising their voices to stop Jason and the crew being seduced by the sirens' singing. It gives the audience something very rare in traditional theatre: a sense of ownership of the show.
The evening is definitely in need of trimming, and children will need to be over seven to really appreciate it. But this is a show of real wonder, with a delightful cast who spread a little happiness in their quest to claim the Golden Fleece.
· Until January 17. Box office: 020-7223 2223.
