If you have a young child - or borrow one on a regular basis - chances are you won't have escaped the clutches of the giant beast with "terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws".

This touring stage version of The Gruffalo stays true to the spirit of the awardwinning bestselling book by Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler, with familiar read-along-rhymes fleshed out with songs and slapstick.

In brown combats, Princess Leia hair and an appealing red-painted nose, Abbey Norman is convincing as the timid mouse who ventures into the deep, dark wood in search of hazelnuts.

There is a scary moment early on when it looks like she might overplay the earnest children's presenter role to a cringing climax, but Jackanory purgatory is narrowly avoided, thanks to her two able co-stars, Mark Peachey and Joseph Carey.

Flanking the mouse they double up as story-tellers and characters from the book with some witty asides and innuendoes aimed, one suspects, at the grown-ups in the audience.

The three would-be predators which Mouse scares off with tales of the "imaginary" Gruffalo are brilliantly hammed up.

Fox wouldn't look out of place at an East London greyhound stadium with his flat cap, mockney accent and overexaggerated sideburns, while Owl zooms around the simple woodland set as a retired Biggles-type air force caricature hooting orders by way of a military marching song.

But it's the gold bolero-clad, maraca-playing slimy snake with a resplendent drooping South American moustache which swings it for me.

The wild samba song and dance routine have me hooked to the extent that I feel slightly aggrieved when the Gruffalo eventually turns up - but I get the feeling I'm on my own.

The not-so-bright, clumsy monster meets the approval of a theatreful of children who scream their appreciation with a deafening chorus of pre-emptive punch-lines.

Even my normally disdainful four-year-old joins in with the familiar words - although she draws the line at singing them. I'm with her all the way.

The tunes might be catchy but they border on the twee, especially when coupled with corny quips such as the list of the Gruffalo's favourite dishes: mouseaka, bubble and squeak and tiramouseu.

But the pantoesque humour is pitched at your average pre-schooler who, in between necking ice cream and clamouring over seats, happily revels in the silliness of the occasion: Pure child heaven.

The show is running until Saturday, July 16.