The Ocean at the End of the Lane

I am slowly working my way through all of Neil Gaiman's books, a journey to strange and beautiful lands indeed, so I was curious to see how this book would be adapted for the stage. Distilling such a complex story with its powerful human, magical and mystical imagery into a stage show seemed to me to present some almost insurmountable challenges, but in this version, Joel Horwood has achieved something exciting, engaging and true to the original.

By concentrating just on the central story thread this production creates a successful narrative without losing too much from the book. Of course we get the wonderful Hempstocks and Ursula as well as the central family. Much of the magical aspect is manged by an extremely effective and visually inspiring ensemble who also make the scene changes and monster puppets. The soundscape is loud and effective yet there are some lovely intimate moments woven in. 

Frankly, this is a genuinely wonderful piece of theatre that you should make every effort to go and see!