Gruffalo? What's a gruffalo? A gruffalo! Why, didn't you know? He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws.

More to the point, he's a marketing phenomenon - the Harry Potter of the picture book world who, since his first appearance in 1989, has won the Smarties Gold Award (the children's equivalent of the Booker), been translated into 26 languages and made his creators, author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler, the most successful duo since Allan and Janet Ahlberg.

A monster who is both scary and cuddly and whose rhyming speech acts on children like a drug, The Gruffalo is a worthy successor to Maurice Sendak's perpetually enthralling Wild Things.

And, anxious that he shouldn't be caught up in "lots of jolly adventures" or turned into "something sickly", his creators have doggedly rejected offers to turn their book into a film.

They would have been unwise, however, to say no to Tall Stories, a non-profit-making theatre company who have gained international acclaim for their innovative storytelling.

Committed to the language and atmosphere of the book, their adaptation of The Gruffalo won blanket praise when it first toured in 2001. And now Tall Stories are back on the road with this big scary monster of a show, promising to delight children of three and over, as well as the "big ugly ones" who fork out for the tickets.

With the help of gentle, witty songs and a cannily embellished script, three actors present the story of Mouse, the diminutive trickster who heads into the deep, dark wood on a hunt for hazelnuts.

Encountering a series of potential predators - the dancing wheeler-dealer Fox and the maraca-shaking party animal Snake - he scares them away with stories of an imaginary monster friend, The Gruffalo. But what if Mouse's fantastical invention was to exist?

Well, it would sure be a task for the make-up department. But Tall Stories pull it off - complete with a poisonous pimple on the monsterial nose.

The Gruffalo will also be at Theatre Royal, Brighton, from July 13-16.