GEORGE is ten, an only child, and he lives on a farm with more animals than people around him.

Mum is out shopping, dad is doing what farmers do, so George is left in the care of his grandmother.

When a check of the programme reveals that grandma will be played by a man, Peter Sowerbutts, you can be sure she will not be one of those dear, sweet grannies with sweeties.

Instead with a face like a cross between Les Dawson's garden gossip, Dot Cotton and Cinderella's Ugly Sisters, Sowerbutts' grandma is a cantankerous, bossy misery in need of anger management therapy.

George has had enough of her ungrateful, ungracious orders, issued from the gloom of her sitting-room chair, and he hits upon his own version of granny temper therapy: George's mood-enhancing Marvellous Medicine.

This is, surprise, surprise, a Roald Dahl story, as ripe as any for transfer to the stage: a move effected by writer Stuart Paterson and director Graeme Messer for Birmingham Stage Company's tenth anniversary production.

Messer's musical production could not have a more enthusiastic lead than David Ahmad. In his childhood, George's Marvellous Medicine was Ahmad's favourite book, and at 26 he now plays George as if the cat has located the cream.

The first half is essentially a two-hander, reliant on Ahmad's mischievous effervescence countering the bubble-pricking grumpiness of Sowerbutts' sour, butt-end of a gran. It is children's drama rather than pantomime, but the playing is not too far removed from a clash between a panto silly-billy such as Buttons and a wicked witch. Not least because Ahmad's George installs himself as the children's cheeky hero, encouraging audience participation every time he adds another ingredient to his boiling vat of medicine. Curry? "In it goes!" everyone shouts, as the pace picks up the more the first half progresses. Engine oil? "In it goes!". Brown paint? "In it goes!"

Into Grandma? "In it goes!", and in an amusing transformation scene that has children giggling with delight, her dress grows and grows as Grandma rises higher and higher, eventually smashing her way through the roof.

The focus spreads in the second half, with the involvement of long-suffering Mum (Laura Sydonie), excited Dad (Scotsman James Low), a rampaging giant bull, the rampant ego of Grandma and assorted over-sized chickens, making Jacqueline Trousdale's clever set a hive of unpredictable activity.

Despite weak songs, this lively show is just the medicine for children. What a shame the Easter holidays have ended.

Box office: 01904 671818

Updated: 10:00 Wednesday, April 30, 2003