Children's theatre review: I'll Take You to Mrs Cole! Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh

"Rock, rock steady, reggae," goes the upbeat theme tune of this likeable and lively musical, adapted by Catherine Alexander from Nigel Gray and Michael Foreman's book.

An imaginative piece of physical theatre that mixes live DJ-ing with a Madness-style aesthetic

I'll Take You to Mrs Cole! Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) * * *

Set in the early 1980s, it follows Ashley and her mum, who's originally from Barbados and now living and working in Coventry, as they go to war over Ashley's love of creating stories from kitchen utensils, which stops the housework getting done and causes things to get broken.

Complicité bring their trademark style of imaginative physical theatre to a piece that mixes live DJ-ing with a Madness-style aesthetic, pork pie hats and Blues Brothers shades, as it flits between the fantasy of Ashley's imagination – full of 80s pop culture – with her Mum's threats to send her to a mysterious but vilified neighbour 'Mrs Cole', if she doesn't pull her weight.

The story is less focussed than the style with which it's told, with issues such as the collapse of the motor industry and Windrush generation turned into background noise in favour of circular conflict between Ashley and her mum. A smart little ending twists the story into a subversive exploration of prejudice, but it's a shame this isn't woven in more throughout. However, the energetic production does a good job of keeping things moving otherwise.

Until 26 August.

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