ROALD Dahl's classic tale is brought to life by The Nonentities this week and is very well presented and performed.

I'll get my criticism out of the way first, as I was not happy with the start.

There is an over-long scene-setting dialogue, which for little ones is unnecessary. All they need to know is that five golden tickets have been hidden in chocolate bars.

Instead, there was the reason for the tickets and we met the four awful children who had already found theirs, before we saw the Bucket family, including Charlie, who finds the final ticket. By then the kids were getting restless. Children need action from the start - not lots of words.

However, things livened up considerably and the children soon became firm fans of the rapping Oompah Loompahs, aka Mitch Greenaway, Sarah Lewis, Katie Brown and David Clarke, supplemented by four children from the audience, who looked cute in their aprons and caps.

Willy Wonka was played to perfection by Louise Fulwell, and Nicola Blakemore was wonderful as Mrs Beauregard.

The scene which amused my six-year-old grandson (and me) the most, featured manic nut-cracking squirrels, which attacked anyone who dared enter their domain. First Veruca Salt (Evie Brookes) met her doom, followed by her mother (Carolyn Brinton) and her father, played by Tom Oakley, who had us in hysterics as he succumbed to the rampaging rodents.

This is strictly for the youngsters, but the Nonnies have a success according to my little grandson Daniel, who asked if he could watch it again. VJS