Pure Gold

Erich Kästner's Emil and the Detectives is the progressive, ballsy alternative to Enid Blyton. There's the same lust for adventure, but the ginger beer is in short supply. After all, this is Berlin during the Weimar Republic. Yet for all the seeming austerity at the heart of the National Theatre's 2013 swift adaptation of Kästner's classic, there are lavish sets and even more generous performances on offer.

Carl Miller has written a fleet but faithful dramatic version of this cherished, German tale, moving from yokel Neustadt to Fritz Lang chic Berlin, beautifully captured in Bunny Christie's designs and inspired projection work. With the change in location comes a significant upping in pace. Gone are the petty pranks of Emil's hometown, now he is forced to face the full might of the Großstadt and its decidedly darker criminals.

On the night I saw the show – it boasts three separate companies of children – Daniel Patten played the curious Emil, mixing small-town curiosity and precocious savvy. He leads an impressive team of child actors who command the Olivier space with aplomb (some rushed lines aside). They are witty and wise and as trains, trams and bicycles whizz by, the production makes wide-eyed kids out of all its audience.

But there's a serious side to this Christmas treat too, teed up by Stuart McQuarrie's brilliantly uneasy Mr Snow (with more than a hint of Christopher Isherwood's wheeling, dealing Mr Norris). While Emil has been made keenly aware of the dangers of Berlin, nothing prepares him for Snow's villainy.

The juvenile energies of Carl Miller's adaptation of Kästner's junior crime drama – burned by the Nazis after their rise to power in 1933 – can feel a little relentless and some of the chase-scene repetitions outstay their welcome, but Emil's team of detectives, at one point including us, the audience, keep you grinning. And, by delivering an emotional punch in the final minutes, this is a Christmas treat that may not glitter but is pure gold. Emil and the Detectives runs until 18 March. Click here for more information.

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