Inflating grandmas, giant bulls and chickens with elongated legs: George's Marvellous Medicine has all the elements of a perfect children's story.

Sprinkled with Roald Dahl's black humour, it's funny, intriguing and teaches a valuable lesson without being patronising.

The Birmingham Stage Company have treated the book with respect and testament to this is the show's longevity - they've now been performing it for ten years.

The usual hubbub of Ribena carton slurps and the clink-clunk of chairs stops immediately when the curtain rises to reveal George's home, an imaginative, higgledy-piggledy farm house, with a colourful Hansel And Gretel appearance.

Lovable but put-upon George is sick of his evil grandma, so he makes a concoction which will either "cure her completely or blow her head right off".

Dressed in turn-up jeans, a pair of Converse trainers and a stripy T-shirt, Matthew Noble as George has that Blue Peter presenter quality and was an instant hit. He played young George with naive, child-like charm and even I forgot he was a grown man.

A typical Roald Dahl baddie, grandma eats slugs and hates children. Played by Dereck Walker, she is genuinely frightening and not at all like the pantomime dame character I was expecting - more like a mixture of Steptoe and the witch from Snow White.

When George gives her the medicine, it makes her grow at an alarming rate. In a scene which is especially fun for children, grandma shoots out of her chair and through the roof, ending up like Stretch Armstrong (or Bo Selecta's Mick Hucknall), complete with massive arms.

George's dad wants him to make more of the stuff but they can't get the recipe right, resulting in some freaky farmyard animals.

An hour-and-a-quarter of lotions, potions, magic and mayhem, this short but sweet show is ideal family entertainment.

Even though there are no scene changes, the action is fast-moving, never allowing youngsters to get bored. I thought the end was a bit abrupt but my eight-year-old niece helpfully informed me this is how it ends in the book.

She also assured me the show is faithful to the book, which should please Dahl fans.