A celery-eating tortoise and a heart-warming love story. Two things that rarely appear in the same context, do so in Roald Dahl's Esio Trot, and make for a hugely comedic play about love in all its absurdity. Ryan Ammar, who adapted Dahl’s story for the stage, and director Emily Burns have created a brilliant new stage production of this classic children's book as a bizarre tale that is entertaining throughout.

Mr. Hoppy (Ben Pope) is a shy old man, living alone in his apartment. He's been secretly in love with his downstairs neighbor Mrs. Silver (Laura Jayne Ayres), who herself turns all her affection to her beloved tortoise Alfie (Jack Mosedale). To finally win her heart, Mr Hoppy turns to a desperate plan of magic spells to make Alfie grow bigger. But will the nosy neighbor Humphrey (Will Peck) stop Mr. Hoppy in time?

The play is told through Alfie's eyes and he quickly becomes the centre of the play. Mosedale gives a brilliant performance as the whimsical and witty Alfie. His opening reflective monologue sets the scene perfectly, and his shrewd remarks punctuating the play are deliciously comical. Even with the plot evolving on the other side of the stage, he remains a pleasure to watch.

Pope, as the creepy and socially awkward Mr. Hoppy, adds to this by being a wonderfully odd mixture of weird and heart-warming. His miming and facial expressions to the narration of Mosedale are hilarious. Although his character is creepy and somewhat deceitful, Pope manages to be convincingly adorable. Together with Peck, he forms a great connection on stage as two — in different ways — creepy men after the same woman.

Writer Ammar did a great job rewriting the children's story into a tale about love. The additional character Humphrey fits in nicely and his dialogues with Mr. Hoppy are well-written and evenly-paced. However, some scenes in the middle seem somewhat unmotivated, and the ending is rather abrupt.

There are also a few missed cues and technical slip-ups throughout the play, but even this can't stop the laughter, as the whole cast (and especially Mosedale) pick them up in an unfazed, amusing way. Clearly, the actors are having a lot of fun on stage, and — which makes the play work so well — are able to convey this humour onto the audience.

Overall, this adaption of Esio Trot is a brilliant comedy, entertaining throughout. While maybe not answering every question about love, it does answer this one: should true love come before tortoises?