At first, it's like Through The Keyhole.
You walk into someone's home and - this will beguile adults, as well as the 7+ target audience - nosy around. Open drawers, look into the fridge (even though it says 'beware' on the door). That is when it suddenly edges into CSI territory. Because what is in the fridge, and the other little rooms, whispers of stuff we all fear. No-one's home. There are signs of a recent struggle: the dinner table toppled mid-meal, chaos in the bathroom, desperate writing on the wall. Was it kidnap? Burglary gone wrong? Murder???
As our unseen guide gently coaxes us through this cunningly detailed installation-drama, there are clues a-plenty that we are following in the plotline of The Three Little Pigs, a tale most youngsters will know from Shrek films, if not from nursery lore. Straw, sticks and bricks are the essential fabric of the irresistibly quirky design. Even the music score joins in the witty hinting, with tracks that include Hungry Like A Wolf.
Yet co-creators Shone Reppe and Andy Manley have opened up the story so that the little piggies' bid for independence, and the unprovoked fate that preys on them, can run in any direction your own imagination chooses. Older heads will perhaps have genocide purges in mind, youngsters will bring their own responses to the funny-yet-scary scenario that ends with us walking out of the bunker-like brick house, free to go where we please. Did any piggy do the same? Afterwards, images and atmospheres continue to raise tantalising questions. HUFF really has pushed the boundaries of children's theatre with consummate flair and a willingness to take risks.
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