Anansi the Spider review – children's theatre with beauty and bite

Unicorn theatre, London
A mischievous arachnid from folklore is given fresh life in a silky show that leaves its audience charmed

In one of many stories spun about Anansi, the trickster spider from West African and Caribbean folklore, he stores up all the world's wisdom only for it to be spilt far and wide. There is a worldwide web of wise Anansi stories, too, which became an oral tradition of the Ashanti people and have been spun over and again, their morals tangled inside the scheming hero's spirited adventures.

Justin Audibert, the Unicorn's new artistic director, retells three of them in a production for three- to seven-year-olds that is direct and effervescent. But it's almost more striking to note what it is not. This is children's theatre that is never over-egged or over-insistent. There are no winking asides to adults, no spoonfeeding the meaning to kids. Nothing feels superfluous. Each bit of interplay with the audience feels just right.