This play will charm adults and children alike, with contagious enthusiasm and a 3-pack of paper towels.

Despite taking a distinctly non-traditional approach, 'Bestest Bedtime Stories (As Told by our Grandpa) (He’s Silly)' contains good old-fashioned storytelling and even more subtle asides than its long-winded title implies. The titular Grandpa (and yes, he is appropriately silly) tells his three grandchildren a selection of bedtime stories about evil witches and neglected children with unreal names. This occurs mainly as a framing story/plot device, but also because Grandpa is babysitting and the children want their stories. Antics ensue, with broccoli included, in this fourth-wall-breaking foray into the deep dark woods of fairy tales as you’ve never heard them before.

Grandpa’s tales have titles like ‘Jack and Jill and the Beanstalk’, and are more entertaining than the average array of G-rated entertainment afforded to most families who dare to submit themselves to children’s programming over the summer holiday period. The script’s unashamed humour (and its melodramatic delivery) is guaranteed to elicit peals of laughter in kids of all ages, including, but not limited to, older siblings who get all the jokes, some of which include words like “government” and “universal remote control”. Prince-related stranger danger combines with unnecessarily complicated wish-conditioning to punctuate the skilfully playful performances of the cast, who bring Grandpa’s patchwork of stories to life.

Highlights of the play include a hilariously modern take on Hans and Gretel, with the previously cannibalistic witch being re-homed to a healthier house. Hans and Gretel’s parents are depicted as phone-distracted yuppies, dumping their kids in the spooky woods with nothing but a credit card. A sudden burst of folk-dancing occurs at some point during Hans and Gretel. Don’t panic; it is glorious and doesn’t last long. In Sleeping Beauty, the three good fairies are named after very specific medicine brands and come bearing gifts like WD40 and rolls of paper towels. This feels strangely topical but works well in its context, as does the oven.

If your FRINGE WORLD Festival preferences include resentful ovens, irreverent humour, or nostalgic-windows-into-imaginary-childhood-memories, you will love this hilarious 60-minute theatrical ride through a mish-mash of fairytale territories.