Following in the footsteps of The Smeds And The Smoos, The Snail And The Whale and The Gruffalo, The Baddies stomped into kids’ storytimes in 2022. This work added to the giant collection of over 200 books written by ultra-popular rhyming author Julia Donaldson who is now so beloved by families around the world that she’s been translated into over 100 languages. Donaldson’s story of a witch, a troll and a ghost has been adapted for the stage by David Greig and dramaturg Jackie Crichton and received its world premiere at Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre.

The book’s wee white mouse gets an upgrade from cameo to narrator, with a Mary Poppins-style prim Mama Mouse telling her rambunctious mice babies a scary bedtime story. Joe Stilgoe, who also wrote music for the Zog and Stick Man stage shows, delivers once again with fantastic, earwormy songs. He stays true to Donaldson’s love of chirpy cadences and riffs on some of the book’s most memorable lines, such as ‘there was pushing and shoving and pulling of hair, there was pinching and kicking and biting!’ 

Slapstick sequences and clowning from the three excellent baddies (Rachel Bird, Dyfrig Morris and James Stirling) keep smaller kids laughing while older ones can admire the fearless sangfroid of The Girl, a tiny pigtailed feminist icon played with tuneful poise by Yuki Sutton. This 3D, fleshed-out version is full of obnoxious, quarrelling characters and wily fun, with bonus cabaret-cat and life lessons on personal hygiene and good manners chucked in.

The Baddies tours until Thursday 12 June; reviewed at Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.