Another hit and myth affair from Mac productions, the team with a richly-deserved national reputation for the quality of their shows for family audiences.
Birmingham-based writer Philip Monks, director Malachi Bogdanov and designer Kate Bunce scored a major triumph last Easter with Stone Soup. This year they've produced another totally brilliant show based around re-imaginings of three Greek myths featuring the famous box, high-flying Icarus and heroic Theseus.
There's a superb slow-motion and show-stopping moment which plays around with a modern myth - Kate and Leonardo doing that figurehead number on the Titanic.
You won't see anything wit-tier or hysterically hilarious anywhere this year.
That particular snapshot plays very much to the mums and dads, but there's loads of magical moments for the youngsters - an albatross
fashioned from towels, Medusa with a head of seaweed snakes, and a magnificent minotaur with horns made from breathing tubes used in snorkelling.
All the low-tech props are the sort of things kids grab in their own games, so they can easily appreciate the fun of this particular piece of dressing-up - even the genuinely scary bit when Dora opens the box.
The vibrant and versatile young cast really bring out the magic of these tales and have themselves put together the musical element.
Ben Harrison contributes some neat surfer threads, nifty guitar and the best minotaur bellow you've ever heard.
Craig Painting and Anna Keighley as the brother and sister who disagree about opening the box are utterly convincing both as children and heroes - and Anna tootles a nice clarinet into the bargain.
Great work by all involved.
* Running time: one hour (no interval). Until April 9, then May 8 to 14 at various times. Check with box office on 0121 4403838 for details.
Sid Langley
