When Hans Christian Andersen heard that a planned statue would depict him surrounded by children, he protested that the child-like elements were only part of his tales, and that he was a "poet for all ages", writes David Bellan.

Teatro Kismet's delightful production of The Snow Queen, at the Oxford Playhouse this week, proves his point.

On one level, it's presented as a near-pantomime, which the many children in the audience clearly loved. But it's also a classic quest story, a rite of passage in which the love between two children develops into something more powerful as Gerda searches far and wide for her lost friend Kay, whose heart has been been turned to ice by the Snow Queen.

And it's a tale of the triumph of good and steadfastness over a powerful evil, as Gerda's tears of compassion melt Kay's frozen heart and set him free.

The story is told in a street-theatre style, with lots of robust humour, and only at the end is there an emotional scene when the two lovers are reunited.

Seven actors - almost all Italian, but with excellent English - play several roles each on the simplest of sets, using quick costume-changes, swathes of fabric and dramatic lighting-effects to create the different scenes from Gerda's journey.

By training, some are dancers, some acrobats, some musicians, in addition to their acting skills, so that this is a very physical performance, with elements of circus too as some of the cast swing and twist high above the stage.

But all this is put at the service of the story, so effectively told, as we follow Gerda and her reindeer steed to an enchanted garden, a castle, a den of thieves, and eventually to the Snow Queen's lair in Lapland, where the final conflict takes place, and where Gerda and Kay are reunited.

Gerda and Kay are touchingly played by Sonia Diaz and Federico Dimitri.

But the star of this show is undoubtedly Elizabetta di Terlizzi as the Snow Queen. A fine actress as well as a professional dancer, she plays the character as a white-clad martial arts master, at once beautiful and terrifying.

The Snow Queen runs until Saturday.