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So taking a modern classic like The Gruffalo, and transforming it from page to stage, brings with it great responsibility – not to mention sky-high expectations from a devoted young audience who can recite every word by heart.

How will they make Owl fly, our four-year-old wanted to know. (They won’t.)

When will the Gruffalo come on? (Soon – but he won’t look exactly like the Gruffalo you’ve grown to know and love.)

Owl and Mouse in The Gruffalo at the Lyceum Theatre. Photo: Ben Brailsford

Why is Snake dressed as a matador?? (Hmm. Now you’ve got me.)

Turning Julia Donaldson’s much-loved rhyming read into an hour-long play means the stage version, presented by a multi-talented cast of just three from London based theatre company Tall Stories, is quite different to the book.

There are funny songs, lots of silly slapstick, and plenty of shouted audience participation, all of which our children loved. Eagle-eyed infants will notice hardworking Alastair Chisholm plays all three predators, and Aimee Louise Bevan is likeable as Mouse.

But the sophisticated additional characterisation – Snake becomes a flamboyant Spanish narcissist; Owl is portrayed as an airplane pilot – might go over the heads of the very fans to whom the show appeals.

Gruffalo, Fox and Mouse in the stage adaptation of children’s classic The Gruffalo at the Lyceum Theatre. Photo: Ben Brailsford

A mouse took a stroll through the deep, dark wood; the kids found it nuts, but nuts is good.

The Gruffalo continues at the Lyceum on today, Thursday, May 19, at 10.30am and 1.30pm and tomorrow, Friday, May 20, at 1.30pm and 4.30pm.

Review: Gruffalo at Sheffield's Lyceum Theatre