When a puppet pops onto the stage, the wonderful thing about children is they seem to be able to block out the reality, the human motors, their attention is sucked in like a vacuum to the puppets appearance and they automatically relate to the visual effect.

The Celtic tale is introduced by the puppeteer as being about 'feeling beautiful inside.'  Her first question "Who likes magic?" and every little hand rushed to the ceiling, accompanied by shouts of "Me!"

Katherine's dilemma is 'to do the right thing,' her mother has cast a spell over her stepsister Anna, whom she thought was too beautiful and would therefore receive all the attention from the king.  The spell turns Anna into a sheep (!) and Katherine's first mission is undo the spell.

Along her journey Katherine faces many moral dilemmas, meeting at one point a wonderful prince who she also wishes to save. Ultimately she wants to make everyone happy, but will she succeed? And the show doesn't end there; afterwards everyone queued up to get the chance to touch the hand carved puppet with excitement and delight!

 This show at times failed to engage the children and tended to lose them slightly during the middle when the tale, I feel, took too many twists and turns for them to be able to maintain concentration.  When their were clear changes in atmosphere and character, from good to bad, evil and sad or when they were asked for interaction and invited to be included, then the children would instantly become animated, enjoying the magic of the show.

Perfect for the Easter Holidays!