Aimed at 13-21 year-olds with complex and multiple difficulties, this show is a coming of age story based on the Suffolk myth The Green Children of Woolpit. Rose (Rachael McCormick) and Ralph (Daniel Abbott) are found on the edge of Woolpit Wood. Who are they, where did they come from, why don’t they speak a language anybody understands and why are they green?

Richard (Tony Carrick) recounts the story to granddaughter Agnes (Charlotte Carey) of how they’re taken in by an old man who has lost his love of life and tries to teach them society’s way. He ends up learning just as much from them as they do from him.

Adapted by Kirsty Thorpe and Laura Norman, the cast’s interaction with the audience was beautiful to watch. The widening wonder in the eyes of the audience as they were encouraged to get more and more involved is indescribable, as was the joy on the face of those who’d brought them to see the show.

The floor of the theatre was converted to lush grass, tree branches hung from the ceiling, the whole scene was breath-taking; it felt like you were really in a forest and garden. The rain and snow scenes were a particularly clever touch.

The puppetry also deserves a special mention, Jimmy Grimes, assistant puppet master on War Horse, which is renowned for its puppetry, helped create a moving, interacting and realistic stag, its colour and design clearly made it a part of the forest, and in touch with the forest’s nature and wonder.

With all of these amazing features, ‘The Green Children’ carries with it a message that anybody, in good company, can be improved and find joy.

Devised by the company and young people at special schools across Suffolk and Cambridge, I hope Red Rose Chain find the funding to bring this show to a larger audience.

By Tom Davies, student at East Bergholt High School