Although it had the feel of a pantomime, passages in Toad of Toad Hall stay faithful to the original Wind in the Willows. The chaotic courtroom trial of Toad rang true, as the judge, a pitiless wise owl (Gill Daly), confirmed his jail sentence.   And John, playwright and punster, promptly seized his opportunity to put Toad in the Hole.  Quite why the jailer’s daughter Sweet Caroline (Freya Booth) was so keen to save Toad is beyond me. Maybe it is all about a traditional but misguided respect for the nobility.  In any event, Caroline and Laundress (Cleo Butterworth) offered Toad the chance to spring him from prison in disguise.

Police officer Tracy Brook played a delightful cameo as a police officer alongside gaoler Callum Macphee as they pursued Toad and his painted plywood escape train with their own. Toad’s subsequent wrangle with the barge owner (Katrina Rublowsky) was excellent, after he said he would not be washing her clothes as promised  and she saw he was nothing more than a toad.

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The backstage crew, which included stage management team Liz Nicholson and George Brooke-Smith, props designer Liz Holden, lighting designer and operator (Ian Jones and Jan Rae) and sound designer  James Brown together with  Nick Duquemin  as operator, deserve credit.     My favourite effect  was the sound of a drip of water, which showed we had arrived at Toad's dank, dark, jail without a set change.

The crowds of wild-wooders led by Callum and Judith Harkness as Chief Stoat offered enough menace to get their point across without scaring the children. It can be challenging to manage a crowd on stage;  and the play’s opening song, with much of the cast, failed to achieve the same magic. But a good time was had by all.