WATERSHED Productions' 50th anniversary production of Mary Norton's enchanting adventure stories is in the final week of its winter-season run at the Playhouse.

Adapted for the stage by children's playwright Charles Way, the show is suitable for children aged five and over, and any parent who has exhausted the supply of Yorkshire pantomimes could stock-up a child's new-born enthusiasm for theatre with a visit to Norton's world of little people.

Forget The Borrowers film, the one from 1997 with big bad John Goodman as an unscrupulous lawyer and a story far removed from Norton's prose. Watershed Productions brings rich theatricality to Norton's 1952 story of the tiny, resourceful Borrowers who live under the floorboards in late-Victorian Leighton Buzzard.

When acquiring the stage rights, director Chris Wallis - artistic director of York Theatre Royal's Young People's Theatre from 1979 to 1986 - vowed to create a magical show for family audiences, both faithful to the source materials and full of high production values.

Way's adaptation sticks to the house and garden and field, while Wallis's production has an array of puppets in all shapes and sizes, ranging from delicate marionettes and a huge arm, to glove and rug puppets, courtesy of Stephen Sharples of Treasure Trove Puppets. The giant buzzing wasp, singing cricket and fluttering moth captivate the children too.

Roger Haines's touring production of The Borrowers visited the Grand Opera House in York in July 2001, since when Wallis has re-claimed the reins and the Leeds show ends on a topical, seasonal note with a dance in the snow to celebrate the arrival of a new year.

In the central role, Denise Hoey is an inquisitive and excited Arrietty, the 14-year-old daughter of Pod (Nicholas Collett) and Homily Clock (Susan Jeffrey), the cautious Borrowers from beneath the floorboards.

A teenage diarist in the mould of Anne Frank in Amsterdam, Arrietty also belongs to that literary line of children who crave discovering a world beyond their restrictive home surroundings, be it Harry Potter, the Darlings in Peter Pan or Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz.

This theme forms the core of Watershed's production, which is built around the friendship of Arrietty and the equally isolated Boy (Phillip Cotterill) from above the boards. Meanwhile, Mrs Driver (Christie Curtis), the scary cook, and Spiller (William Gregory), the wild-living Borrower from the field, add to the drama and spectacle of this warm-hearted adventure. Clock on now!

The Borrowers, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, until January 11 Box office: 0113 2137700

Updated: 14:31 Wednesday, January 08, 2003