Players Theatre, Trinity College ***

FOR ALL their happy ever afters, children’s fairytales have a darker duality, where good and evil co-exist. They occupy a fantasy realm not unlike the life of Lucy (played with humour and sensitivity by Cara Christie), who has grown from damaged child to businesswoman, struggling to escape her troubled past. Beyond the Bark imaginatively execute this story with a small cast, using shadow puppetry and song; with Lucy’s childhood self presented in flashback using a puppet.

The stage backdrop is a pale canvas, frequently back-lit to illuminate a fairytale castle, dragons, caterpillars and – in menacing green – a recurring nightmare of Lucy’s mother, which is central to her medicated unhappiness. Visually, it’s magical and original, but some staging elements distract more than embellish (Edith, a psychiatrist, would have been just as funny played by Moira Averill without the puppet prop), but the sense of fun and imagination outweigh that.

Runs until Saturday