We may only have seen his spindly legs poking out in bright yellow tights, but for all his energy and bagging the biggest laughs of the night take a bow Jason O'Brien.

Forget David Tennant's Hamlet or Colin Firth's Bafta-winning movie performance in A Single Man, for the youngsters at this cracking show Jason O'Brien's Giant Chicken was a tour de force.

Okay, so all he had to do was charge around the stage in a chicken costume barging into people and flapping his wings, but he did it with panache – and certainly stole the show for my six-year-old son.

There's nothing kids like better than the weird, wonderful and at times the downright malicious to tickle their fancy.

And George's Marvellous Medicine had a ladle full of all.

This Roald Dahl tale may be pretty simple but in less skilful hands it could easily fail to translate onto the stage.

Fortunately with David Woods, a star in the field of children's drama, penning the adaptation we have a show that appeals on every level with the audience without losing any of the darker side of Dahl's story-telling. In fact, he fair revels in the sinister.

For those who don't know the story, George Kranky is a young boy enjoying his school hols at home on a farm with his mum and dad when Grandma comes to stay. Within minutes she reveals herself to be a crotchety old crone who appears hell bent on making life a misery for young George and his family.

George, played by Lee Evans sound-alike Clark Devlin, decides he could make her change her ways by replacing her daily medicine with a concoction of his own … made with all sortsof pills, powders and liquids lying round the farmyard.

Devlin eggs on the audience and so the audience eggs him on to fill his potion pot with all and sundry until he has gallons of steaming goo.

On eating the Marvellous Medicine, Grandma (played by a suitably evil Erika Poole) grows as tall as a house. We see Grandma shoot out of her seat and through the roof of the Kranky home to the amazement of the audience. Hats off here to the effects wizards for that one.

George's dad, played by Tom Woodman, spots the potential in ridding the world of starvation by using the medicine to grow super big animals.

Cue giant chickens, bulls and much hilarity on the farmyard.

When the medicine runs out, George calls on the audience to help him remember the ingredients, but the new batch has a far different effect.

This version of a Dahl's classic fair whizzes along with plenty of audience participation and on-stage slapstick to keep the kids enthralled from start to finish.

And the impressive new Playhouse Whitley Bay stage and sound system makes for a great venue to host this kind of family friendly production.

A marvellous show with proves that laughter, and giant chickens, are the best medicine for the young 'uns.

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For tickets and information on other upcoming performances at the Playhouse Whitley Bay go to www.playhousewhitleybay.co.uk