Framing the large table in the middle of the stage are, on one side, a menu on a chalkboard and on the other a pot-bellied stove. A few buckets full of stones lie around in front and a shopping trolley of porridge packets is behind. The menu for today is a starter of Porridge, main course Stone Soup and to finish a Gingerbread Man. All well and good as the charmingly engaging Andy Lawrence gets to work on delivering three tales beginning with ‘Once upon a Time…’

With a remarkable array of puppets and transforming objects, the three stories are told in this one-man show with wit and charm. They are told exactly as on the menu, and most of us are familiar enough with the tales to remember them fondly, but of course for the children in the audience it may be the first time. There’s an echo of Old Mother Hubbard about the first telling as granny and her dog run out of food and get a never-ending porridge pot from the magic curiosity shop. The table and boxes transform and transform again in a series of pleasing reveals. Rocks are stuck together to create a magnificent troll face and the audience is encouraged to throw imaginary ingredients into the soup pot. A shape is cut out of cookie dough and a hilarious gingerbread man runs riot over everything, including animals that appear out of buckets.

The whole show is great storytelling entertainment and the audience has a rollicking good time. Like a good meal out, you’re left with a satisfied feeling in your belly, but two key ingredients are a little light on the plate – some good emotional gristle to chew on and the spices of danger, tension and risk.