Winnie the Pooh at Southampton's Mayflower Theatre: Our review

And what a joy it is!

From the moment we set foot in the auditorium, we are transported deep into the Hundred Acre Wood - with the sounds of birds chirping, and a set that looks like it has been brought to life directly from the pages of a storybook.

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Benjamin Durham captures the loveable persona of Pooh perfectly - his facial expressions, mannerisms and tone of voice are superb, and Robbie Noonan brings a never-ending vigour and energy to audience favourite, Tigger, just as you would expect.

For our showing, the roles of Piglet and Roo were played by Lottie Grogan, and Kanga was played by Laura Bacon, who both bring a charming innocence to their characters in every scene they’re in.

Harry Boyd is absolutely delightful in his portrayal of the slightly downtrodden and pessimistic Eeyore, who seems to appeal to the adults in the audience a little more than he should.

And, if that wasn’t enough – he turns in an equally expressive performance as wise old Owl, and Rabbit too! Not an easy feat.

The score features snippets of many of the Sherman Brothers' much-loved songs from the Disney cartoons, including Winnie the Pooh, The Blustery Day, and The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers.

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Running at a little over an hour long, the show is perfectly timed to hold the attention of little ones - attested to by most of the children in the audience, including the three who accompanied me.

We were all completely entranced by Rockefeller’s beautifully crafted life-size puppets, and their human counterparts didn’t seem to distract from the magic of the show at all as we followed Pooh on his journey for honey.

It really is a delight of a show the whole family will enjoy!

• Winnie the Pooh runs until Sunday, tickets are on sale at mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.