There is no denying that Tall Stories' stage version of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's bestseller, about a little mouse who unwisely strays into the woods looking for hazelnuts, will provide 50 minutes of pleasure for lots of parents and young children. But it very much falls into the category of theatre for children that merely attempts to create a facsimile on stage of something everyone in the audience will already be familiar with.
In a sense, it is no different from those huge stadium tours of Bob the Builder or the Tweenies, but on a smaller scale. It lacks the imaginative leaps of really good page to stage transpositions. Why shouldn't adaptations of children's books aspire to the same creative alchemy that Shared Experience brings to classic texts? Why shouldn't we glimpse the internal life of characters, not just the external narrative? Not to do so simply patronises the very young.
Like the book, the show is gently scary and has just the right amount of charm without being too cloying. But taking a little picture book and turning it into a 50-minute show is stretching things a bit; and then putting a small show in a big theatre like the Criterion is stretching it some more.
This is not a show with West End production values. For a start, the actors can't sing. This may be very old-fashioned children's theatre, but the strengths of the original book ensure that time passes cheerfully and the company do have fun giving the mouse's predators in the dark scary wood distinctive touches. The rather camp snake in his diamante gold bolero is a particular pleasure.
It will serve, but the continued success of shows like this, when there is so much better and more imaginative work out there, demonstrates that it is marketing not art that is operating here.
· Until August 21. Box office: 0870 060 2313
