The Ocean at the End of the Lane at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh

Neil Gaiman is a writer of ‘fantastic fiction’ whose characters find the Holy Grail in an Oxfam shop, encounter comedic lover Harlequin in a diner or sit next to a god on a plane.

So we’re prepared for anything when this National Theatre production begins its Edinburgh run, and we’re not disappointed.

I don’t think my imagination encompasses as much as Gaiman’s, so at the beginning I found the plot difficult to follow, but it is nonetheless a thrilling, rollercoaster ride through the writer's world where anything is possible, nightmares become reality, and the dark places families go when they face hard times like bereavements.

As well as playing his dad, accomplished actor Trevor Fox plays a man who returns to his Sussex home and is transported back to his 12th birthday, his remarkable best friend Lettie Hempstock, and the adventures they have to ward off shapeshifting monsters.

The production looks and sounds stunning – it’s not surprising Paule Constable won an Olivier Award for Best Lighting. Both are an assault on the senses, but in an exciting way… rather like that rollercoaster ride, but with full bells and whistles!

As the boy and Lettie, Keir Ogilvy and Millie Hikasa are every inch 11- and 12-year-old children having the adventure of a lifetime, at times terrified, excited, animated, but always with a fresh childlike enthusiasm.

At the other end of the age scale, Finty Williams as Old Mrs Hempstock, Lettie’s grandmother, is akin to a witch, a tremendous presence, with her long grey hair, a rustic accent and powers which, it seems, she has passed onto her granddaughter.

As for Charlie Brooks, EastEnders’ arch villain Janine Butcher, or rather, Carter, is not safely behind bars but running amok in this parallel world, every bit as manipulative and evil as her TV character.

Be afraid, be very afraid!

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh until April 22.