This was one of those shows I’m glad I brought a real child to. Coming out, my impression of the show was that it was very sweet and had some lovely puppetry but that the plot was a little slow paced and convoluted, and that the audience interaction and musical elements were too brief and needed more development.

I was going to suggest that the intended age range of 3-8 was too old, and that this was really for toddlers. But not so! My five and a half year old, when asked, could recount the plot back in detail, including all her favourite funny bits (I enjoyed the puppet slapstick too, to be fair). She didn’t care that there was only one song; she performed it for her dad in the pub. She wanted to queue up and have her photo taken with the puppets and chat to them after the show. It was a hit! So yes, a lovely show, we recommend it fully.

The children seemed extremely comfortable in the performance - one of the best jokes was called out by a child, I thought (on encouraging a puppet mouse to eat a cake, he yelled “go on! It’s a cheese cake!”). Perhaps the children felt so at home because as a show, it is so lo-fi. There are two performers, a handful of puppets, and a simple, puppet theatre set. There were some elements of a traditional Punch and Judy in the puppet styles and the physical comedy (though NOT in the story content - the slapstick here is all between a cat and a mouse, and very gentle). Some of the puppets are as simple as a printed out picture on a stick, and the effect of this is so charming. These are so clearly puppets - no CGI here, you’re meant to know that they’re being controlled by the actors, that’s part of the fun.

The story, too, is one of a simple mix up between boxes, which the children took pleasure of predicting the beats of. Overall, I feel this company know their audience a lot better than I do. I maintain this would be a lovely one to bring a younger sibling along for the ride for, but it turns out this kind of simple entertainment, done with love and conviction, is still incredibly appealing to the lower primary school crowd.

Child review: "I liked Hickory (the cat) and my favourite bit was when the cat chased the mouse."