Packed with eager pre-schoolers, this touring show based on the popular children’s TV series and picture books was a great introduction to theatre for the very young.

All the favourite characters were authentically brought to life including Peppa and little brother George, Pedro Pony, Suzie Sheep, Gerald Giraffe, as well as Mummy Pig and an impressively rotund Daddy Pig.

The one human character, Daisy, got the audience participating in songs and actions as the simple story began with a music lesson in Madame Gazelle’s classroom.

Children clapped along to the beat as the puppeteers, donned in black, swiftly and smoothly operated their large characters. The scenery looked professional and true to the picture books’ bold colours and big, simple designs.

After the lesson, the characters set off on a school camping trip with Daddy Pig driving the bus across the stage. They all felt sick and so stopped for some fresh air and a participatory Bing Bong Song.

The second half was even more visually stimulating for little ones. It included a picnic with hiccupping ducks, and songs around a sizzling, smoking campfire. Lit up fireflies, a frog, bats and owls, operated on long sticks, made for an attractive night-time scene.

Silhouettes of the characters in their tents, too excited to sleep, appeared as Daddy Pig snored loudly, to the audience’s great amusement.

Then Daisy sung a lullaby as the moon and stars floated past and the characters eventually fell asleep to the sound of raindrops. In the morning the friends jumped up and down in muddy puddles – a Peppa Pig favourite, but one in which the unfortunate audience also got relentlessly sprayed with water guns.

The young audience managed to sit through the performance as there was an ideal balance of audience interaction, and visual and musical stimulation.