What are you to make of a show where one of the leading actors is fast asleep in a deckchair in the foyer of the theatre as you arrive?

As he's clutching a large alarm clock to his chest, he obviously has time on his hands. He also has large, floppy white ears, so we may assume that he's the Hare of the title.

The bowler-hatted Tortoise is in a similar semi-reclining position, but awake, outside the entrance to The Studio.

Once the audience is seated, they put on a show. But not one of those rowdy, screaming and shouting affairs often staged in the name of children's plays.

This is a more thoughtful, but no less entertaining, entertainment although there are the inevitable fart jokes, audience participation and the possibility of a few tears at the end.

The show was developed by director Damian Cruden and his team on a working trip to Jijo Picture Book Village on the southern island of Japan.

Relections on friendship, life and death are fitted in alongside slapstick capers involving sitting in cakes, getting a finger stuck in a watering can and a messy (but mimed) shaving sequence.

Hare's always in a hurry and wants to stop time because he's reached the ripe old age of eight, old by hare standards, and he doesn't want to leave his friend the Tortoise.

Lively performances from Eamonn Fleming's Tortoise and Robert Pickavance's Hare ensure there's enough comic capers and audience interaction to keep the youngsters happy, even if the deeper aspects of the story go over their heads.

Hana Komai musical additions are a character in themselves in this pleasing play.

Until June 16. Tickets 01904-623568 or book online at www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

Steve Pratt