A NEW children’s play is coming to the stage this month, that critics have called “an exquisite piece of theatre”.

Malvern Theatres are putting on a production of The Snail and the Whale, by production company Tall Stories, from June 27.

Toby Mitchell, director, said, “At Tall Stories we’ve loved Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s fantastic story about the snail and the whale for years. The original challenge was thinking about how to put that story on stage – with those two very different characters.

“Reading an article about Storybook Soldiers gave us the idea of telling the story with a young daughter (representing the snail) who desperately wants to go around the world with her Royal Navy father (the whale). Then, it was a question of fitting the two stories together seamlessly and clearly, so the audience knows where they are within each one”,

The heart-warming story has been reviewed as a “textbook example of how to do theatre for children right”. The story follows a young girl and her relationship with her seafaring father.

Tall Stories, an Olivier Award-nominated company, also brought productions of The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom live on stage.

The Snail and the Whale will be on stage at Malvern Theatres from Sunday, June 27 to Tuesday June 29 Tickets are on sale at the Box Office 01684 892277 and online at malvern-theatres.co.uk