ANYTHING Ian Brown could do with Wind In The Willows, he has done again with his latest fabulous family show for Christmas in the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

The Quarry Theatre has been transformed into a winter landscape - was it my imagination or did the auditorium feel suitably chillier than usual? - for Adrian Mitchell's dramatisation of CS Lewis's Narnia tale where the wicked White Witch vows it will be always winter, but never Christmas.

Last year's four adventurers were Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad. This time, our plucky quartet are bossy, straight-laced eldest brother Peter (Dominic Charles-Rouse), inquisitive sister Susan (Louisa McCarthy), rebellious Edmund (Richard Frame) and wide-eyed Lucy (Claire Redcliffe). Evacuated in wartime to the rambling country house of kindly Professor Kirk (Russell Dixon), they can't resist exploring its huge stairways.

In the first of many magical moments created by designer Ruari Murchison, with a nod to Magritte and surrealism, Susan climbs through a cupboard... and comes out the other side in a cliff face of giant, white fur coats: the gateway to mystical Narnia. You will not see a more spectacular scene in Yorkshire theatreland this Christmas, although costume designer Stephen Snell's high-heeled reindeer run it close.

Narnia is a battle ground for good and evil, that staple of family shows at Christmas, and in this icy, scary fantastical world of fauns and foes, the fresh-faced children will learn of right and wrong. Mitchell's script cuts a clear pathway through Lewis's text, but there are moments where the dramatisation suffers from Greek Tragedy Disease: reportage rather than action.

This blocking of the arteries is only temporary: director Brown and designer Murchison use a revolve stage that ensures fluidity, and sound and video designer Mic Pool provides a visual commentary aide with his video images, projected on to a back screen and a globe. Be it Father Christmas and his reindeer flying across the sky, the majesty of Cair Paravel or a representation of blood from a dying Aslan the lion, video has its say. Shaun Davey's music stirs, Michael Skyers' Aslan roars mightily, but Ellen O'Grady's White Witch could be haughtier still.

The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, until February 5. Box office: 0113 213 7700

Updated: 12:56 Friday, December 10, 2004