© Henrik Stenberg 'Kom Bamse' reviews recent Royal Danish reviews more Jane Simpson reviews Discuss this review (Open for at least 6 months)

Apparently it's the first time Bamse has been tempted off the screen and into the real world, and it's something of a coup for the RDB to have persuaded not only the creator of the series but also some of the principal actors to get involved. Katrine Hauch-Fausbøll originally invented the characters, and she's worked on both the script - there's lots of talking - and the production with solodanser Thomas Lund, who's also responsible for the choreography. It's quite a challenge to keep a pre-school audience interested and entertained for 50 minutes and it's neatly done: there's always something new happening, nothing goes on for too long, and the seriously dancey bits are alternated with familiar routines from the TV shows so that the children don't feel lost.

Bamse himself is a rather opinionated, wilful bear; he falls asleep in a pink tutu and dreams that a beautiful Sylph is teaching him ballet steps (or trying to). He has two sidekicks, Chicken (more sophisticated and intelligent) and Duckling (cuddly but not very bright). These three are played by adults - the RDB's Flemming Ryberg substitutes for the 'real' but injured Chicken, whilst Søren Hauch-Fausbøll and Gitte Melgaard play their TV roles 'live' for the first time. The rest of the cast is made up entirely of young dancers from the Royal Danish Ballet School. Lund uses them very cleverly: the older girls get to be sylphides and swans, the middle-sized ones get a Broadway number as a chorus-line of Chickenettes, and the tiny ones tiptoe round in striped pyjamas bringing sleep to insomniacs. The boys, meanwhile, get to be the baddies - mean little animals who steal things and make rude noises - or else they're in jeans and baseball caps, doing jazz-dance or some serious boys' ballet steps. By the looks of it, there are some exciting talents queuing up for entry into the company in the next year or two.

The show may be made for small children but the company has definitely not done it on the cheap. There's a specially commissioned score, by David Firman (incorporating bits of Tchaikovsky and others), and Christian Tom-Petersen's sets and costumes are charmingly appropriate. The ballet comes back for another run in the spring, and surely will also be repeated in future years to give new hordes of three-year olds their first taste of ballet.