Fairy tales are almost the essential ingredient it seems for children’s holiday shows, but often they are so ‘contemporised’ and reworked that the original is all but lost. Greg Cooper has a lighter touch than many however, and his version of what happens, when a boastful miller brags about his daughter’s ability to spin gold from straw, is mercifully recognisable. 

Another plus is in Nigel Kerr’s tweaking of the mainstage set designed for The Mikado, currently providing exuberant summer evening entertainment. A prominent ‘Ye Old Mill’ sign and a couple of seemingly active cogs set the scene for the initial scenes amongst the flour sacks, while the little Chinese bridge furnishes great entries for the royals later in the story. 

Ralph McCubbin Howell has a trio of strong actors to direct. The compliant daughter is neatly played by a winsome Monique Clark, while Eli Matthewson converts from the greedy Prince Horace (nasty side played down as the spoilt demands of an over-indulged child), to a surprising spinning wheel and even the coveted baby with seeming ease.  

It’s Tom Trevella however, who really powers the show along. From his bumptiously enthusiastic Miller to a resplendent Queen, draggle feathered Stork and twinkle-toed Rumpelstiltskin he is a ball of focussed energy and comic charm.

All three actors do justice to Luke Di Somma’s catchy compositions, so that the musical component of the production is well served.

Good cheerful fun then for the little ones. Around me they were all agog and ready to participate as invited. Jokes for grown-ups were perhaps less successful, or perhaps the real pleasure for that group is in seeing how still and engaged their charges can be, in the right environment.

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