If the title of Ray Bradbury�s novel nods darkly in the direction of Shakespeare�s Macbeth, then Karen Tennent�s set design for this co-production by Catherine Wheels and the National Theatre of Scotland winks with sly humour at the reference and encompasses the action within a tweaked replica of the Globe Theatre.

Star rating ***
If the title of Ray Bradbury's novel nods darkly in the direction of Shakespeare's Macbeth, then Karen Tennent's set design for this co-production by Catherine Wheels and the National Theatre of Scotland winks with sly humour at the reference and encompasses the action within a tweaked replica of the Globe Theatre. It works extremely well, its semi-circle of upper and lower levels suggesting the narrow confines of 1950s small-town America while adapting smoothly into the sinister carnival that stokes and feeds off unfulfilled yearnings and unhappiness. It also provides useful surfaces for the countless projections that conjure up the bamboozling mirror-maze and the time- travelling carousel that lure both adults and kids into the soul-destroying web of the malevolent, slippery Mr Dark.

Actually, fewer special effects and stronger, more defined performances would serve the story better. Bradbury's original scenario grips because of the insidious way the allure exerted by the carnival eats into the seeming normality of the characters' lives. A slow first half harnessed to wordy exposition, with the central characters - teenagers Will (Michael Gray) and Jim (Patrick Mulvey) - curiously unengaging, is redeemed after the interval by the head-on collision between good and evil. Graham Kent, as Will's father, shows sudden and convincing mettle as he takes on the increasingly charismatic Dark of Andrew Clark. The Dust Witch (Jennifer Paterson) and the genuinely spooky live music from David Paul Jones and Robin Mason are high points in this hugely ambitious venture but the devil is in the detail and the detail here is still in need of some fine tuning.