Puss In Boots, De Grey Rooms Ballroom, York, December 10 to January 3

York company TongueTied Theatre and Slaithwaite storytellers Telling Tales are returning to the De Grey Rooms Ballroom, where last year they staged Cinderella.

From Wednesday, writer and actor Robin Simpson, director Kyle Davies, set and puppet designer Lydia Denno and performers Susanna Meese and Lizzie Wiggs are joined by live-sounds foley artist Richard Kay for Puss In Boots.

The show presents a “new storytelling performance to ignite the imagination” of five year olds and upwards and even younger children for designated All Ages Welcome shows.

“We approach the story in a very different way from pantomime, which is that Puss In Boots is an adventure tale, as it was in the original, where Puss, not Jack, is the hero,” says Kyle.

“It’s a rags-to-riches story of Jack, the down-at-heel boy who has nothing, but befriends an incredible talking cat, Puss, who sets out to make his master rich and powerful and so set him on the road to ‘marvellousness’ by being very clever and very ‘tricksy’,” says writer Robin, who will play Jack, as well sharing the storytelling mantle.

The story is sometimes confused with Dick Whittington but is in fact French – Le Maitre Chat, to be precise, or Le Chat Botté, written by CharlesPerrault.

“He also wrote the most famous version of Cinderella, in the 17th century, and in the same way that he came up with pumpkins for making the coach in Cinderella, he put the boots on the cat in this story. He was very good at giving visual elements to these stories.”

And so you can look forward to a fashionably French Puss.

“The costumes are incredibly French,” says Robin. “Well, perhaps the English idea of how the French dress,” qualifies Richard. “We’re all wearing berets, stripey [Breton] tops, braces...”

“High-waisted trousers,” chips in Lizzie. “And fabulous socks!” Bought, as it turns out, from the not exactly French H&M and BHS, alias British Home Stores, but who will be looking that closely when dazzled by les chaussettes?

Foley artist Richard, who also takes on the roles of a storyteller, the King and the voice of the Ogre, will be a key component in the show. “Basically I’m creating the live sounds to support the story,” he says.” There’ll be snippets of tunes I’ll come up with, plus harmonica and a little bit of squeezebox.”

Director Kyle joins in: “The joy of a foley artist is not having someone playing an instrument beautifully, but playing with instruments to make interesting sounds. We have a drum that, rather than hitting it, has balls inside that roll to make the sound of thunder and we’ll also be bowing a cymbal, instead of striking it.”

Susannah Meese will be playing the lead Storyteller and “essentially anything that no one else is doing”. “I’m almost like the host for the show,” says Susannah.

“This week Robin and I went into five primary school assemblies and Lizzie and Richard to four, to show our skills, demonstrating the interaction we have with our audiences. It’s not the same as in pantomimes, but more in the storytelling style, where you can see us and we can see you at all times.”

Susannah and Robin demonstrated how an overhead projector could be used to turn cereal-packet cardboard into a castle, while Lizzie and Richard demonstrated the puppetry.

The role of Puss will be played by Lizzie Wiggs, or rather, she will voice Puss and be his puppeteer, with a 4ft rod puppet of Puss strapped to her feet. In other words, like last winter, she will have something in front of her, although last time it was a bump, soon to be delivered into the world as son Max (who appears in this year’s trailer for Cinderella, incidentally).

“I’m always holding or carrying something,” she jokes.

* York Theatre Royal, Tongue Tied Theatre and Telling Tales Theatre present Puss In Boots, De Grey Rooms Ballroom, York, from Wednesday to January 3. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Suitable for ages five to 11, plus All Ages Welcome performances for younger audiences and all the family.