Hansel and Gretel review – the woods are alive in the Dukes' annual alfresco show

Hansel and Gretel may get top billing at the Dukes' annual outdoor production, but they are not alone. Threaded through the main story are shreds from seven fairytales, three classic children's films and one nonsense poem. Part of the fun of this show is spotting these, as you follow the abandoned twins up hill, down dale and through mysterious, wooded glades.

The setting is magnificent: a hilltop memorial, swards of grass, copses and a lake. During the interval, people sit and watch the sun slip into Morcambe Bay; it is a drama in itself. Director Joe Sumsion and designer Alison Heffernan cannily exploit the particular evocative potential of each of their chosen spaces. In the opening scene, for instance, Hansel and Gretel are abandoned by their father and stepmother in a dell whose steep, stark sides exaggerate the children's smallness and isolation (convincingly conveyed by adult actors Jessica Baglow and Joshua Miles). The technical team expertly play off ambiguous associations stimulated by woodland settings. Kieran Buckeridge's music and Brent Lees's lighting and sound designs make the trees around the cage where Hansel is held by the witch tower like dark, malevolent presences. Once the children are freed, the wood is transformed into a magical place of protective wonder by coloured lights connecting with the sun's fading rays, and sweetly eerie notes suggesting contiguous worlds just beyond the reach of human senses.

Writer Zosia Wand's scene construction is at times over-wordy, under-dynamic and given to preachiness (Gretel's girl credentials constantly stressed), but big outdoor shows such as this have particular demands that are hard to meet on a first try. Wand's strength lies in giving vivid, surprising life to well-known fairytale characters: Hero the feisty feminist frog (cleverly delivered as bossiness with an edge of fragility by Shelley Atkinson); Sydney the Swan who was once a prince (engagingly waddled by Gareth Cassidy – I couldn't think who he reminded me of until he delivered this line of reproach to Hero: "Assertiveness is more effective if delivered politely." Michael Gove!); Heinz the vegetarian waltzing wolf (Guy Hargreaves, just the right mix of regret and repressed instinct); the fast-ageing Witch longing for eternal life (a blast of a performance from Polly Lister); Puss the (conflicted) Cat (layers of silent expression from Ella Vale). The Dukes theatre has been putting on summer performances in the park for 27 years: long may it continue.