Laurence Boswell's version of the traditional French fairytale of Beauty and the Beast has been a success for the Young Vic and, in a larger version, the Royal Shakespeare Company. I doubt either could have been better than Jemima Levick's thrilling, magical production of the small-scale version here.

It starts arrestingly enough with the nine-strong cast marching on singing a French song on an empty, stripped-back stage. The odd markings on the pillars only later resolve themselves as scratches made by the Beast.

There are no pretty seasonal backcloths here, just plenty of back story as the merchant's squabbling family is introduced. Among the more memorable moments, a bad-tempered sulk as they face life in the country after their father loses his fortune turns into a joyous stomp as they throw real mud at each other and eventually dance in it.

The whole of the first half, in fact, is taken up with how their father falls foul of the Beast and allows Beauty to be carried off by the Beast's horse in a real cliff-hanger of a first-act curtain. Before that we have encountered Beast, a genuinely ugly half-man, half satyr, played with brilliant attention to the detail of his animal-like movements by a young actor named Alan Burgon.

We have also encountered his palace, evoked largely by a series of vertical coloured neon tubes. These simple, almost minimal ideas (designs by Alex Lowde) are key to the production's success; they all require the audience's imagination but allow that imagination full rein. So although there is no audience involvement in terms of pantomime shouting there is full engagement on every other level.

Equally important are Karen Maciver's music - more than just a soundtrack, almost a character - and fine performances from the entire company. Among them, Gemma McIlhenney, slight and fair, brings just the right mixture of innocence and feistiness to Beauty so that her warming to Beast after he rescues her from the wolves seems at least possible, even if it has to happen all too quickly.

But overall Levick must take the laurels for pulling this together; her conception of the show is boldly original and full of imaginative touches, she trusts absolutely in the possibility of theatre and the capacity of the audience to be transported by it, and she leaves no one in any doubt as to the moral heart of the story without ever needing to spell it out.

Box office: 01382 223530, to Jan 3

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