The Underwatermelon Man at the The Civic

By FRANCIS TILL

This stage adaptation of Fane Flaws' multimedia children's book is zippy good fun, something like a riotous cabaret for kids.

The mostly well-executed action is frantic and the actors are uniformly superb in roles that call for almost bipolar fluctuations between the fantastic and the demented, frequently in costumes and sets that call to mind the underground comics of the 1960s.

Through this maze wanders a centrepiece convention of a 13-year-old girl, Zenobiah Blade (Ellen Simpson), who drifts back and forth between dream states and waking in a loose, episodic pastiche that has something to do with finding a lost father - or at least his love - and having adventures along the way.

Simpson plays her wistful waif convincingly, and there are several scenes in the second act during which she rises well above the material to demonstrate why she won the national jazz dancing title, while unleashing a voice that could put her near the top of blues charts.

Throughout, the oddly peripheral figure of the underwatermelon man flies about soundlessly, making the occasional magic, performing the odd rescue and resolving the action.

Anitta Alexander has that role and also a single spotlight performance as an angel, during which she executes a stunning, death-defying aerial dance that is alone worth the ticket.

There is some potently dark subtext, and even though it comes off more Rocky and Bullwinkle than Tarantino, there is an inescapable edge that works for adults but scares some children, as it did my son who had to be coaxed back for the second half with confectionary bribes and promises that it would all be fine in the end. It was.

As a musical, there aren't any songs that stick, but the performance has enough visual and kinetic energy to make that seem insignificant on the night.

The show runs until April 10.