Director/adaptor Fiona Sauder has always taken kids really seriously. Or, rather, she takes them at least as seriously as she takes adults. Probably more. As a result, she might be the most reliable creator of quality theatre for young audiences I’ve encountered in my career. Her work never takes kids’ attention for granted but neither does it assume said attention can’t be earned without glitter and lasers. With the help of energetic, committed performers and thoughtful designers, she creatively blends practical theatre effects with opportunities for active imagination to pull the audience into whatever classic literature world she’s currently working within.

For this Shaw season, that world is Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows, a pleasant low-fi setting where she adapts A.A. Milne’s play Toad of Toad Hall into a new work that fairly strictly follows the somewhat ho-hum plot of the original but fills it out with extra fun from Judith Bowden’s beautiful oversized set design to Jeff Newberry’s standout original music.

Lawrence Libor plays the crucial role of Mr. Toad. Not to be confused with the lovable grump from A Year with Frog and Toad returning later this season, this Mr. Toad is a frenetic thrill-chaser whose friends have a heck of a time trying to keep him out of trouble. Those friends are played with regal calm by Shaw vets Shawn Wright (a distinguished Badger) and Sharry Flett (a contented Ratty) while Libor leaps about the stage unlocking a new level of his already diverse performance skill  set. You’d swear it was a young Michael Therriault and not Natasha & Pierre’s fierce Dolokhov as this green-haired menace, delightfully filling every inch of space in the intimate studio theatre.

The Wind in the Willows juxtaposes wild adventure with restraint and simplicity. Against the backdrop of a simple, silly story, Sauder and team are able to bring their audience into a full world of new wonders.