An exuberant audience of children frolic in the pre-show holding area. The performance is taking place in a very smart room (the Ambassador Suite) within the Hilton Metropole hotel, on Brighton seafront. For now, we wait to be led in to witness the legendary French company Velo Theatre present From the bottom of the well, the frog believes the sky is round. The moment to enter their magical mechanical world of wonder and enchantment comes: all coats and bulky bags of our everyday lives are to be left behind, and we expectantly file through, along a kind of canvas corridor, and through a canvas door, in the style of a 3D drawing. I manage to trip, and bring part of this fabric set with me. I’m embarrassed, and attract the consternation of the three smartly dressed male performers. I shuffle off to sit red-faced and a little indignant on one of the tightly packed wooden forms. I request a drink from the tea-pot in the shape of a house that is being offered to a few members of the audience. I’m successful, though this refreshment is lemonade, not a proper cuppa. I want a nibble of a wafer biscuit too, cut into the shape of a house.

Once we’re all settled, and the set is intact, the story commences – the tale of a monsieur who had 400 houses, some huge and others so tiny they are made of pins and disappear when the light changes, yet none that give him satisfaction. A mechanical bird flies from a cuckoo clock and delivers a note to the authoritative man in the kilt sitting high above us in the umpire chair. There’s a sudden black-out, and an audible kerfuffle in the ensuing darkness. When the lights resume, we are in awe to find that the space has opened up before us into a large and lofty room, with a decorative ceiling. Very grand, and visually arresting. In the open space is a spinning world. A young man cycles in, an older portly lady peruses the terrain.

There follows a wonderful use of space and expert visual storytelling. The setting of scenes is just astounding. Contents of the room are brought in; lamps covered in cloths, window frames, straight lines are sanded onto the floor with a sand dispenser to denote the rooms. Everything about this show is simply gorgeous, a riveting, engrossing and enchanting visual feast topped with captivating storytelling. The physicality is superb, for example, a choreography with pillows. The pace and detailed design exemplary. It’s just glorious, enchanting, riveting, transportive. So beautifully created, I didn’t want to leave. I could be wrapped in this world forever and a day.