Nobody wants to sit beside a bored pre-teen, least of all their parents, and you won’t find any here.

Lionboy – based on the novels by Zizou Corder and receiving its world premiere at the Bristol Old Vic –  is what children’s drama should be: contemporary, thoughtful and fast-paced.

There is a crashing lighting rig, roaring lions, a hot air balloon and a circus, all delivered with impressive slickness.

The action is set in the future, when companies are bigger and more powerful than countries. Sound familiar?

But don’t let the political signposting put you off. Above all, this is the story of Charlie Ashanti (Adetomiwa Edun), a little boy who can speak Cat.

We follow him on his journey to Africa to free his parents and save a pride of lions from imprisonment.

Out of the ensemble, the fantastically rubber-faced Dan Milne stands out as various caricatures including the bombastic King Boris.

But director Annabel Arden and her visual creations are the real stars of the show. You can’t fail to be impressed by a lion face created by the shadow of three people or Charlie’s impression of an elderly lion.

What Complicite’s show might lack in emotional depth, it more than makes up for in fantastical storytelling. It certaintly makes you work harder for your story than a night in front of The Lion King on DVD.

Children will be kept busy imagining lions; for adults, there’s fun to be had spotting Emma Thompson’s cameo role.

Review by Nicola Yeeles

Lionboy is at Bristol Old Vic until tomorrow. For more information, visit www.bristololdvic.org.uk/lionboy.html.