Norden Farm's inventive and cleverly staged re-imagining of the Pinocchio tale

Norden Farm are encouraging you to ‘invest in your child's imagination and playfulness’ by taking them to see Pinocchio this Christmas, a heart-warming reimagining of a classic tale by production company Stuff and Nonsense.

I thought I had a pretty good handle on this famous tale - most vividly through the classic Disney film.

Geppetto makes a wooden puppet who is brought to life by a a wood sprite - or fairy in the Disney film. They promise to turn him into a real boy if he can follow his conscience - Jiminy Cricket in the film - and stay on the right path.

However, this brilliantly inventive and cleverly staged production wasn't a bit like I was expecting. And it was all the better for it.

In this production there are just three actors on stage at any one time, and time has shifted forward some thirty years or so with Pinocchio playing a fully grown man alongside his father, Geppetto and his son, named Sonny.

The trio hark back to the time Pinocchio was created and transformed into a real boy - using expert puppetry and skilful stage manipulation to create magical scenes - as Pinocchio's conscience takes him to some pretty dark places - quite literally in the case of being inside the mouth of a whale - before he manages to get himself back on the straight and narrow towards achieving his dream of becoming a real boy.

This is a show for kids that has been influence by kids, and that magical quality is evident from the first very scenes. At times tender and poignant, at other times like a pantomime, with children screaming at the stage - ‘he's behind you!'

Some clever sleights of hand with prop movement and puppetry had kids in this audience squealing with delight.

Another scene played with their own consciences, as Pinocchio is forced to choose between taking the right path and becoming a real-life boy - or following his desire to head off to the land of toys.

They, like Pinocchio, would surely follow their base instincts to go down the more exciting but potentially dangerous path.

This is surely the most ambitious project yet for both Norden Farm and Stuff and Nonsense.

At its heart it is a comforting Christmas show spreading a festive message of love.

The actors were all brilliant. Funny, engaging and talented singers, but perhaps the real star of the show is the puppetry and stage work, with tables and chairs and furniture being stacked high and wide at times with the actors moving nimbly around them.

Simple yet wonderfully effective.

There’s tumbles, falls, shoulder stands, and disappearing acts which left my children spellbound at times.

Led by Artistic Director Niki McCretton, this production is all about bringing children's creativity and imagination to the fore.

Founded in 2000, they have been leading the way in energetic, thought-provoking, and playfully mischievous productions, full of fantastic puppetry and physical action.

Niki McCretton has been producing theatre for over 30 years, with a strong reputation for contemporary artist children’s theatre and writing and directing adaptations of existing stories.

She joined forces with Stuff and Nonsense in 2008, bringing with her an incomparable array of theatre making experience.

With music by Dom Coyote, a winning composer, theatre maker and voice coach. Additional music by Tim Dalling who has been working as a performer, musician, and songwriter since he left Glasgow School of Art in 1982.

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Pinocchio is at Norden Farm Centre for the Arts until Saturday 28 December.

Tickets are £16 | £14 under 16s | £56 Family and Friends (4 people). Suitable for ages 3+ years.