There is a compere cum talking cricket and an arch, blue-haired fairy, along with topical references to the news and singalongs aplenty. In other words this is Pinocchio as panto for youngsters, beginning with a fluffing up of the audience before the young hero (Dylan Collymore) is forged from wood by impoverished carpenter Geppetto (Tok Morakinyo).
The script whizzes through – and simplifies – the plot’s numerous turns, from Pinocchio’s encounter with a threatening puppet-master and his scrapes with the conniving Sly Fox (Rushand Chambers) and Miss Kat (Jhanaica Van Mook), to time in the doghouse, then in the belly of a shark, and more.
