A MONSTER of a stage show, The Gruffalo, is returning to the Alban Arena later this month. It comes fresh from sell-out performances in the West End and on Broadway and is adapted from the best-selling book The Gruffalo. It follows Mouse into the deep dar

A MONSTER of a stage show, The Gruffalo, is returning to the Alban Arena later this month.

It comes fresh from sell-out performances in the West End and on Broadway and is adapted from the best-selling book The Gruffalo.

It follows Mouse into the deep dark wood on a hunt for hazelnuts. Armed with just a nut map and a very vivid imagination, Mouse runs into the smirking wheeler-dealer Fox, a retired Woodland Air Force officer, Owl and the maraca-shaking party-animal Snake.

Rather than becoming the main course of the next meal, Mouse scares them away with stories of an imaginary monster friend - until he comes face to face with the very creature he imagined.

The story of the clever mouse in a forest full of predators, The Gruffalo is aimed at children aged three and upwards and in the hands of Tall Stories, it has toured England, Scotland and Wales, as well as further afield.

Performances are at 1.30pm and 3.30pm on Friday, July 24, and at 11am and 2.30pm on Saturday, July 25.

Tickets are �12, available from the Arena box office on 01727 844488.

n The early years of the longest-reigning Queen of this country are at the heart of The Young Victoria which is being shown at the Arena soon.

A sumptuous film, it departs from the image of the dumpy Queen to Victoria's life as a young woman.

After a stifling childhood Victoria, played by Emily Blunt, needs to find maturity and independence. But she has a controlling mother (Miranda Richardson), two scheming uncles and a snake-like Prime Minister (Paul Bettany).

Then she finds her Prince Charming in the shape of her beloved Albert (Rupert Friend) and even though he is her mother's choice, that only delays the inevitable.

Tickets for The Young Victoria, which can be seen at 1pm and 7.30pm on Monday, July 20, and at 1.30pm and 7.30pm on Tuesday, July 21, are �6 with concessions �4.