Danny The Champion of the World, Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth

ROALD Dahl never ceases to be a winner with primary school children and this inspired stage production, adapted by David Wood, is champion too!

Directed by Phil Clark for the Birmingham Stage Company, the tour follows a successful London run and brings with it lashings of theatrical magic and surprises.

Although the text felt a little weighty at times, given it is a very simple tale, the staging and the quality of the performances really brought this popular classic to life.

The design is an absolute delight. There is a rotating caravan in which Danny lives with his dad, one side closed, the other open to reveal the cosy, cramped, yet homely place in which they live.

All sorts of cars pull into their petrol station, there are creepy atmospheric woods and countless chickens and pheasants who move and even seem to talk thanks to the on-stage musicians/ensemble who blatantly, and amusingly, do the sound effects or operate pulleys and strings to make them move.

The audience, consisting of more children than adults, is swept up into the action in the second half as they are invited to be beaters - stamping their feet, clapping and shouting to help Danny hatch his plan to beat the evil pheasant shooter Mr Hazel.

And as he battles to also save his home from the greedy land owner, a very moral and uplifting message unfolds.

Colourful performances all round in true Dahl style with college graduate Gareth Warren playing a remarkably believable nine-year-old Danny.