Birmingham Rep ensures a Christmas show for younger children with an energetic and fun re-telling of the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood.

Staged in the smaller theatre space The Door, the show is aimed at three to six-year-olds so is just under an hour long, bright and beautiful and with lots of audience interaction.

The cast of three give it their all, running around the stage, bursting into song, egging on the children in the audience and generally seeming to have a great time.

The story follows the traditional fairy tale but with some imaginative staging which brings it alive and keeps everyone wondering what will happen next.

Ben Simon doubles up as both the narrator who links the audience into the tale and the Big Bad Wolf intent on gobbling up both Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. He successfully creates a wolf who is more likely to evoke laughs than fear as he sizes up Red, leading her astray so he can go after her Nana, who he hopes has a bit more meat on her.

Siobhan Cha Cha takes on the role of the child Red who is desperate to explore beyond the gate of the home she shares with her Nana. As each year passes, she becomes more and more adventurous until one day she finally ventures into the woods alone.

Nisha Anil is the over-anxious Nana, who is determined to keep her granddaughter safe but, in doing so, also restricts her life to such an extent that she is unable to fully experience childhood.

Written by Katherine Chandler and directed by Caroline Wilkes, this is a charming tale which not only tells the typical Red Riding Hood story but also has a lesson about the need to give children freedom to explore and express themselves.

The sets by Deborah Mingham are hugely inventive with green decorated umbrellas rising to the roof and creating the forest, flowers appearing out of suitcases and a bed which converts into the stomach of the wolf.

The seating in the Door has also been slightly changed so there are additional rows along the sides of the stage, meaning more children, and their parents, can be close to the action.

There is a real warmth and gentle humour to this show as Nana fusses around her granddaughter, Red mischievously heads off into the audience to hide and the Wolf prowls around licking his lips. It’s all just a bit larger than life and all the better for being so emphasized.

At the production I reviewed, the cast stayed on to chat to some of the children and there was soon a queue of people eager to meet them, which adds just a little extra touch of magic to theatre.

All the performances of Little Red Riding Hood feature some Makaton and there are also BSL, captioned, relaxed and audio described performances - full information on the birmingham-rep website.

Four stars

Reviewed by Diane Parkes. Litte Red Riding Hood continues to show at The Rep until Saturday 6 January.