The Wolves in the Walls Oxford Playhouse

It's described as a musical pandemonium, but is far more than that. It's a real cracker of a show suitable for all those children who aren't easily scared. The Wolves in the Walls, based on the cult book by Neil Gailman and Dave McKean, opens at the Oxford Playhouse later this month. It's a show full of ingenious theatrical magic, sudden shocks and great jokes, which manages to be both very scary and yet reassuring at the same time.

The Wolves in the Walls is set in Lucy's house, which is quite an ordinary detached house until the crackling, crunchy noises begin. It is also the home of Lucy's tuba playing dad, her jam-making mum and her brother who is addicted to computer games.

They are always so busy that they don't hear the scary sounds. Only Lucy hears them. She knows that they are wolves waiting to come out of the walls and is proved right one night when the wolves do emerge.

"It's all over if the wolves come out of the walls," everyone had said. But they do come out but it isn't the end. In fact, the wolves make things more exciting. They turn out to be naughty rather than downright nasty and although they make a dreadful mess of the house. They even try and take the microwave out for a walk on a lead.

When the family get tired of being in the garden while the wolves play video games and learn the art of scratch DJ-ing in their house, they decide to turn the tables by living in the walls as the wolves had done.

But that doesn't work for long. Soon enough there's a dramatic battle between Lucy's family and the wolves. In the end it is Lucy who comes up with a surprise but you have got to see the show to find out what it is.

This show is a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and Improbable and directed by Vicky Featherstone and Julian Crouch, who have worked together often.

The visual treats they have devised are amazing and include ghostly clapping hands, a video game that floods the stage with castles and crags and an extraordinary beguiling pig puppet which floats like a podgy pink cherub above the wolves' snapping jaws.

The Wolves in the Walls opens on Tuesday, November 21, at 7.30pm and runs until Saturday, November 25 with a 10am and a 2.30pm performance on Thursday, November 23, and 2.30pm matinee performance on November 25. To book, call the box office of the Oxford Playhouse on 01865 3053305 or go to the www.oxfordplayhouse.com website.