Hans Christian Andersen gets a television makeover in this brash multi-media children's show jointly produced by Moving Hands and the Rep.
The Emperor lives with Raphael the Rat (a puppet) who makes up his costumes to order each day with the aid of a magical contraption.
The pair are addicted to the Cookie & Crumble Show, a TV fashion makeover programme named after its blowsy blonde presenter and her assistant.
When the TV duo gatecrash the Emperor's wardrobe and find they have no new clothes to dress him in, the story up to this point becomes a preamble to Andersen's famous morality tale about con artists selling a vain monarch an invisible costume allegedly so fine that idiots can't see it.
Combining live actors with puppets, video and creaky machinery complete with smoke, there is enough going on here to maintain interest despite a somewhat frenetic style which would be wearing if it went on for much longer.
There's a clever bit of audience involvement as Cookie and Crumble scan the theatre with a live video camera in search of fashion victims and then switch seamlessly to a recording to select their participants.
Alison Carney invests Cookie with a menacingly sweet smile and John Flitcroft's Emperor clowns affably as a buffoon in the buff (actually a baggy flesh-coloured suit).
You only have to be four years old to see this show and as far as I'm aware there's no upper age limit.
* Running time: One hour (no interval). Daytime performances until April 22.
Terry Grimley
