Angel delight - but not sickly sweet

These are the two poles which encompass the world of Skellig, the marvellous and the mundane. As director Phil Clark puts it in a perceptive programme note, David Almond, the writer of this modern classic story, has the gift of finding the extraordinary in the ordinariness of life and making it accessible to young people.

The show, with its wonderful work by a selfless ensemble cast and a superb single set by Jacqueline Trousdale that works perfectly for multiple locations, creates an extraordinary and magical atmosphere.

But this is no trite and patronising tale for the youngsters. There's real emotional depth and complex interactions. The strange creature at the centre of the story, Skellig, owes as much to the children who help him (with Chinese takeaways and brown ale) as he gives to them.

If he is an angel, he has more in common with the creations of Milton and Philip Pullman than any Biblical stereotypes. Skellig is played by Neal Foster with an elemental, force-of-nature magnetism - he is far from likeable, but the audience (and the kids who help him) can't take their eyes off him.

Like the owls whose food he shares (along with Numbers 27 and 53 from the takeaway menu) he is entirely his own creature and yet in touch with the whole of creation. The sick baby he 'cures' puts him to rights as well in the strange symbiotic dance we see enacted high above the Old Rep stage - a great theatrical moment which demands the audience joins in with their imaginations rather than any cheap aerial work.

Magnificent stuff. Great work from Iain Ridley, an Old Rep regular by now, as the boy, and Jill Regan makes her first big show debut since graduating from drama college as the oddball girl Mina who befriends and helps him, with copious advice from the works of William Blake. She does a marvellous job.

But, then, this is very much an ensemble piece, with the whole cast contributing to the onstage music and vocal work courtesy of Jak Poore's score.

The show is in Birmingham until Saturday. Do try to catch it - you'll come out feeling as if you had Skellig's wings: and longing for Chinese takeaway and brown ale - 'blinkin' nectar of the gods'.

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