Three cheers for the 300 youngsters, aged seven to ten, who are showing off their acting and singing skills at the Playhouse this week in a delightful stage version of a popular children's book, writes Chris Gray.

We're not seeing them all at once, of course - that would be too much for the Playhouse stage. But each day a team of 60 from a different school is in on the act with professional players Richard Tate and Dystin Johnson. On Tuesday - the show I saw - it was the turn of St Ebbe's First School, Oxford, whose pupils really put their hearts into belting out David Wood's tuneful songs.

Our most experienced writer of children's plays, Mr Wood has done an excellent job of adapting the novel by Ronda and David Armitage, who were also in Tuesday's audience and must have been delighted by what they saw.

Their book tells a jolly seaside story of how lighthouse keeper Mr Grinley's midday meal a thoroughly lavish affair by anyone's standards is pinched by seagulls as his wife winches it across to him in a basket from their coastal cottage. In preparation for the show, a team of professional musicians and technicians visited the schools for valuable lessons in stage design, prop-making, puppeteering and other skills we saw so clearly displayed.

Financed by the Millennium Festival Fund, with the support of Southern Arts and sponsorship from Debenhams, it clearly was money very well spent.