IF you are wondering whether your little children are old enough to enjoy a full-blown pantomime this Christmas, but would like to take them to a live show, the place to go is Bath Theatre Royal’s dedicated youth space, The Egg, and its new show Snow Mice, on various days and times until 11th January.

This charming show is full of fun and adventure, audience participation and, of course, mice. The original Snow Mouse has been packing them in to The Egg for years, and now the family has grown. The adventure starts when siblings Megan (Nikki Warwick), Juliette (Linda Scaramella) and Timothy (Martin Bonger) move house, out of the town and into the country. It’s a chilly, rainy day. The house is unfamiliar and cramped – well at least until the building work is finished. Timmy might be the only boy, but he’s the youngest and he’s keen to make himself heard, just as long as you don’t call him a Silly Billy.

Abandoned by his sisters, he meets a mouse, and the initial fear turns to interested delight and shared language as the little rodent and the boy become friends. Do his sisters believe him? – no, of course not. The two younger townie children have never seen snow before, and the next morning the land is turned to white – and the snow even covers the audience for a while, as a Slava-esque snowball makes its welcome presence felt in the auditorium. Squealing children vie for a chance to join in the fun.

By the time that children take to the mountain and the three mice save the day, they are all firm friends, and all looking forward to happy days in the country together. And all the time they have been accompanied by onstage multi-instrumentalist Greg Hall.

Judging by the looks on the faces of The Egg audience, this should be a huge hit … a delight for tinies and their families and friends, and even unaccompanied adults eager to recapture the innocent joy of Christmas fun and laughter.

GP-W