My three-year-old hasn't been counting down to Christmas; she's been counting down the days until she got to see the Gruffalo's Child.

I've had to endure the question "are we going to see The Gruffalo's Child today?"

for the past week, putting queries about Christmas in the shade.

Perhaps it's hard for non-parents to appreciate the Gruffalo effect. But I'm sure there are parents all over Brighton who have been enduring something similar as their children demand to see the sequel to the original Gruffalo show.

The Julia Donaldson/Axel Scheffler books have been such a publishing phenomenon, there must be few mums and dads who have not encountered them in print.

Tall Stories' version of The Gruffalo was a huge international hit, so they may have had a few butterflies about trying to pull off the trick again - but the book has been effortlessly translated to the stage and is likely to prove just as popular as the original.

The story of how the Gruffalo's child ventures from the safety of his cave into the deep, dark wood to find his father's nemesis, the Big Bad Mouse, is an appealing one, striking a nerve with all children who yearn to explore a wider world.

In fact, in many ways this is better than the original stage version. The songs are better and the owl has shed his squadron leader persona (which must have been baffling to four-year-olds).

Alex Scott Fairley's has his work cut out: he plays all three predators - a sleazy Spanish snake, a pedantic old owl and a spivvy fox (seemingly modelled on George Cole's Flash Harry character), as well as playing the Gruffalo himself. He's well supported by Sarah Thomas Lane's engaging Gruffalo Child and Luanna Priestman's narrator/mouse.

The audience laps it all up: they clap and cheer in all the right places and even the grown-ups join in.

Sadly, it looks like this will be the last Christmas show put on by the Gardner Centre, but at least it's going out in style.

  • until Sat, Dec 30. 01273 685861