Some children’s books – simple stories from familiar worlds – transfer to the stage without much creative heavy lifting. Philip Pullman’s fairytale of volcano scaling, talking elephants and “The Greatest Firework Show in the Galaxy” isn’t one of them. But with buckets of imagination and a sterling cast, Lee Lyford’s new production for six-to-12-year-olds is both epic and spellbindingly intimate. My seven-year-old guest, Artie, isn’t familiar with the book but is immediately enthralled and, at times, so far on the edge of his seat I fear he’ll collide with the woman in front.
Lila dreams of becoming a firework-maker like her dad; he isn’t so keen. So when he’s tricked into revealing the final secret to his craft – winning Royal Sulphur from a fire fiend atop a volcano – Lila’s off like a rocket, via jungles and pirates. Her friend Chulak, learning more about the dangers in store, goes in search of protective water with the king’s vociferous white elephant, Hamlet.
