WEBLINKS
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 |  | Review by site user Charles Lloyd
The Boy Who Fell into a Book - the first play for children from master-playwright Alan Ayckbourn - is an engaging non-stop fantasy adventure.
The play follow the adventures of Kevin, a bookworm who doesn't want to stop reading at bedtime who somehow falls into his book.
He then has to find his way back to his bedroom through the stories on his shelves. Although not really an original idea - think of The Pagemaster, or even Last Action Hero - the concept of mixing a real life personality with fictional characters is well achieved.
Kevin encounters characters and scenarios from pulp detective fiction, Chess for Beginners, Kidnapped, Grimms' Fairy Tales, ghost stories and his baby sister's book, Woobly's Picnic.
| 听 |  | The Boy Who Fell Into A Book poster
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The Woobly's episode seemed to raise the most laughs, playing as it does on both adults' frustration with the happy-clappy day-glo world of early reader books and young children's recognition of their own formative reading.
The fact that it ends up in a slapstick jelly-throwing fight doesn't hurt either!
This was voted "the best bit" by my two seven-year-old companions, closely followed by the encounter with the cod-Shakespearean chess pieces.
Although baffled by the bishop's flagellation they thought it hilariously funny, and the knight had a genuine air of menace.
Other episodes dragged a little - there seemed to be too many convoluted stage mechanics, involving climbing unnecessary ladders, which sometimes slowed down the action.
But the players were consistently excellent - and young Matt Green as Kevin acquitted himself perfectly alongside his adult colleagues.
Sophie Hunter, making her professional debut as femme fatale Monique le Sleek, is also sure to make a big impression.
The final word must go to the intended audience: children. It was clear that the audience as a whole thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it kept my two talking and laughing for hours afterwards.
The Boy who fell into a Book is running between Saturday 7 December until Saturday 4 January.
Follow the link on the left to the Warwick Arts Centre website for times, dates and booking information.
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