Little Red Riding Hood And The Big Bad Wolf

In cahoots with Mr Cahoots himself, Paul Bosco McEneaney, writer Derek O'Connor and Belfast's Lyric have produced spellbinding theatre for the Christmas season, unique in execution, rich and varied in inspiration, and powerful in performance. Little Red Riding Hood And The Big Bad Wolf is the most unconventional kind of conventionality, an immensely exciting and extremely innovative adaptation of a short and simple classic children's story.

So short and simple, actually, that one is tempted to believe that cast and crew will in no way sustain high quality entertainment levels for an hour, let alone an hour and a half.

Except they do. As circus entertainer Mrs Maestro (Christina Nelson) utters to an unsuspecting audience of all ages, "You may think you know this one, but trust me: you know nothing." And she is right.

This literal tale of two halves, or two stories in one play, is a show within a show, a "prequel, sequel and equal" (yes) all at once. Nonsensical though the quote may sound, it all makes sense once everything falls into place.

For Mrs Maestro and her husband (Frankie McCafferty) are both travelling entertainers. They, their non-identical twin daughters Rachel (Roisin Gallagher) and Rosie (Charlotte McCurry), and the Tick Tock Orchestra (Ursula Burns and Peter McAuley) tour with their "Maestro Minions" to the delight of everyone, everywhere.

But, for them, will Little Red Riding Hood be a show, or will it be real? That's what they're about to find out. We enjoy a successful Maestro Family performance of the famous nursery tale, but not everyone on stage does: Rosie is left lamenting her role as the "narrator" and familial neglect. (For the sake of the children in the audience, the latter is wisely not dwelt upon too heavily.) She wants something more interesting. And, in the tradition of once bored hero or heroine's journey versus the manic, messed up villain (see: Beetlejuice, Coraline) – in another way, the be-careful-what-you-wish-for fable – she may get it. Mr Maestro hurts his back, the family need a new "wolf", and Rachel and Rosie are sent out to look for him, stumbling, in the process, across a Big Bad (Kyron Bourke) who's just a little too perfect for anyone's own good.

It's really not spoiling much to say that, Christmas being Christmas, good triumphs over whatever evil there is and everyone in the travelling circus becomes a little wiser for the wear. But what happens along the way is rather otherworldly, sublime even. When the borders of the production-within-the-production – the Maestros' show – open, O'Connor's script gives McEneaney and composer Ursula Burns the freedom to be more expressive and atmospheric. Paul Keogan's set design and lighting is magnificent, equally vaudevillian and mysterious, allowing for a spectacular effect where the Big Bad himself is elevated – and later revolved – on a grand piano in mid air.

The acting is superb. Roisin Gallagher and especially Charlotte McCurry impress with their dry, knowing personalities and ingénue-esque vocals, Christina Nelson is alternately friendly and domineering, and both Frankie McCafferty and Kyron Bourke command their roles with relish. Bourke gets the bonus of enjoying the best Burns' compositions have to offer, her tuneage echoing the relatable foibles of this perhaps misunderstood villain.

The ending is sadly rather abrupt and anticlimactic, but consider it necessary in the context of a children's show and all will feel well. Perhaps even more so in tandem with the universal profundity of one of the final lines:

"The world isn't so bad, or scary, or lonely, as long as we have stories to tell and people to share them with."

Amen to that.

Simon FallahaLittle Red Riding Hood plays at the Lyric Theatre until 03 January.