Cheering and jeering, signing and singing, multi-roling and just plain rolling around laughing: Taking Flight Theatre have done a wonderfully physical job of bringing Katherine Cave and Nick Maland’s picture book You’ve Got Dragons to the stage.

There’s a moment every child has when something is just too scary and their poor young bodies and minds physically can’t rationalise their feelings: lights out at bedtime, answering a question in class, trying to keep up with their braver and bolder friends. You’ve Got Dragons takes these moments and these feelings and gives them names. Flutters in the tummy become wiggling worms and prickly skin becomes dragon scales.

The minimal set transforms from playground to classroom to bedroom as the adult actors do a fine job of creating a childlike world for their audience. Scarves become dragons and people do too. The audience of young families were wowed by the action, the singing and seamless weaving of narrative around the small, intimate Studio Stepney in Y Ffwrnes.

But what impressed me most was the flawless integration of BSL and clever use of captioning. An ingenious, and completely believable, device was used to set up a dual presentation of the story that only added to the enjoyment of the performance – I’ve never seen my six-year-old more engaged by a play.

And he wasn’t bothered by the slight scrappiness that crept into the actor’s individual performances, probably a result of the largely successful portrayal of the loud and busy child characters. But the collective performances of the cast (who also provided the excellent instrumental backing) had a great dynamic and infectious energy that carried the play’s touching central message with real charm.

You’ve Got Dragons, Y Ffwrnes, Llanelli, Sat 13 July

Touring to Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff (Tue 16-Sat 20 July); The Riverfront, Newport (Wed 24-Sat 27 July); Pontypridd Eisteddfod (Wed 7 Aug). Info: here

words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES