Recently in Theatre Category

That, said beaming nine-year-old Jessica, was really, really good. The second 'really' is the one that counts, lifting a reliably entertaining family show into some kind of childhood superleague, a rather special theatrical experience.

Yes, as a hardened old critic I can wholeheartedly urge you to catch Dani Parr's terrific take on James and the Giant Peach, which grabs Roald Dahl's version of fairy tale darkness by the throat and shakes it into pure delight. I've got all sorts of sophisticated reasons for recommending the show and seasoned appreciation of some of the professional brilliance on display
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A fantastic ensemble cast, for a start.

In spite of the next few sentences, this a rave review.

I have reservations about Humble Boy, a huge hit at the National and in the West End for Charlotte Jones. I admire the writer's ambition and sheer cheek in using the emotional framework of the Hamlet story, overlaying it with modern metaphysical musings derived from the abstruse ponderings of people like Stephen Hawking, and seeding it with jokes that would make a Carry On script look over-intellectual.

But it strikes me as contrived and clunky in too many places. Forcing metaphors based on bee-keeping, astrophysics and the yearning for love in dysfunctional families to cross breed leads to some right ungainly offspring fighting for life.

Everything about War and Peace is epic. The straggling, listless columns of hungry humanity, the empty eyes, the impatient silence as they steel themselves for the next stage of the struggle.

And that's just the queue for the restaurant between the two halves of the Shared Experience production which filled Warwick Arts Centre last week.

Actually, the queue for the excellent Eat restaurant was no joke. The last time I saw anything quite as daunting at WAC was the lines of kids waiting for Jacqueline Wilson to sign their books. But it's a clear indicator of the show's popularity and the canniness of WAC in bringing pioneering work to the region. More of which later.

The original production of War and Peace, adapted by the acclaimed writer Helen Edmundson, had a brief outing at the National a dozen years ago. This new touring version, with the involvement of Nottingham Playhouse and Hampstead Theatre, provides a chance for more people to experience what is clearly a major theatrical event.

Illustation from the Elves and the Shoemaker

Every family or circle of close friends has its own language, little quirky phrases and expressions, nicknames and contractions known and understood only by the inner circle.

My lot regularly and without a second thought use words from East Anglian dialect which must be utterly incomprehensible to most people in the Midlands. A snail is a dodderman, for instance.

Frankenstein's monster and William

Let's get it straight. The show now running at Royal & Derngate is a 'does what it says on the tin' job.

It's pointedly billed as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Not the iconic take by Dudley-born James Whale that made Boris Karloff a star.

Not a Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee version.