Jeepers! It is rather unnerving to arrive at the theatre only to be confronted by an army of screaming children. In fact, the first thing that crosses the mind is that it would have been a good idea to have rented an emergency nephew for the evening.
The kids' screams grow louder when the curtain rises on The Gang and louder still when Scooby Doo enters on a scooter. They proceed to dance to the theme tune, accompanied by a zombie type creature and some sort of pirate ghost.

As the plot kicks into action, it is welcomingly apparent that the production is very faithful to the Hanna Barbera cartoons, with The Gangs' voices and movements seemingly lifted straight from the screen. Shaggy especially is a carbon copy of his two-dimensional counterpart. To play the part of a cartoon character so believably really requires considerable acting skills.

And then there's the hound himself. Whether eating and burping, or shivering and shaking, his constant energy brings him to life. Somehow a man in a dog suit is more convincing than the recent 3-D rendered Hollywood effort.

The storyline is a typically madcap affair: The Gang has come to England to visit the set of a horror movie directed by Daphne's uncle, only to stumble across A Mystery. And of course no horror movie studio would be complete without spooky spectres, creepy caretakers and secret rooms.

The stage version includes all the trademarks of the animated adventures, from the munching of Scooby Snacks to the frantic dressing up to confuse monsters. There's even room on stage for a full-sized Mystery Machine.

The children shriek when the monsters appear on stage, but with delight rather than in fear. The Scooby Doo formula (a man in a mask) is well known even to those of a young age. And while there's neither a hologram nor an elaborate pulley system in sight, there is a bizarre spinning hypnotic wheel and a hidden passageway revealed by a lever.

The audience participation seems about to go horribly wrong when a posse of toddlers ambush Scooby and Shaggy at the front and start pulling the hapless mutt's tail, but they take it in their (exaggerated cartoon) stride and proceed to save the day.

While it's primarily aimed at kids, the show caters for big kids too. There are a few cultural allusions to keep the adults on their toes, including references to Austin Powers, Little Britain and Gilbert and Sullivan. Younger children would also have failed to understand Fred's constant referring to his ‘English phrasebook', from which he plucked many an ‘old fruit' and ‘old bean'.

The unmasking of the villain (which, it has to be admitted, completely flummoxed certain adults) rounds off a fun-filled romp that is thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. Emergency nephew would have loved it. In fact it was so much fun I forgot I had neglected to rent him.