Using delightful hand-made puppets, live original music and their own contagious exuberance, this superb performance by Kitchen Zoo was the best of children’s theatre.

Hannah Goudie-Hunter (Owl) and Bob Nicholson (Cat) were accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Bradfield to put on this chockfull performance of Edward Lear’s story poem with remarkable ease. Their creative and colourful script, music and props managed to capture and engage the imagination of young and old alike.

Cat, welcomed the audience in to his “parlour” as they took their seats. It was an intricately designed, fascinatingly old-fashioned room, from which Cat described his days spent eating tuna and napping by the fireplace, before receiving an invitation from visiting Owl. They were both then swept out of the window by a storm to embark upon their sea adventure in a pea-green boat.

All of the puppets from the pig stuck in a biscuit tin to the colourful bong tree and turkey were beautifully and imaginatively crafted by this small theatre company, in partnership with ARC and The Witham.

In addition to Lear’s poem, that was incorporated numerous times, the script consisted of enchanting and creative songs and poetry which perfectly encapsulated the essence of the poem’s playful adventurousness, romance and especially nonsense.

The audience joined in with some singing and dancing and got to meet the puppets and performers at the end. It was a joy to watch as everyone couldn’t help but smile at what can happen with: “a bit of imagination and a sprinkling of nonsense - which can make perfect sense.”