Children’s TV favourite Grandpa in my Pocket will come alive when it is performed at Richmond Theatre this month.

A secret stage trick will see CBeebies favourite grandpa shrink to just inches tall on stage.

The show taps into themes at the heart of the TV series, such as the playful cross generational relationship between grandparent and grandchild, but also exploits the uniquely intimate and creatively unconstrained qualities of theatre.

Dale Superville plays pirate Horatio Heave Ho who takes his friends on a pirate adventure in search of treasure, but things all go wrong and it is up to grandpa to put on his magic shrinking cap and save the day.

Superville says: “It’s such a clever piece of theatre, I am really proud to put my name to it.”

Clever backstage tricks mean the cast have been able to push the production to its limits, despite there being a small team working on the show.

Superville says: “The backstage crew have been outstanding.

“There is so much that goes on behind the scenes, the actors are only the icing on the cake.”

Although a children’s show, Superville says parents have thoroughly enjoyed the production due to its fast pace and stage tricks.

He says: “Even dads who come in because their kids have dragged them along end up really enjoying it.

“You can always tell when they’re there because they are slumped into their seat.

“At a show we did in Wolverhampton I spotted one at the front – he had his arms crossed and his legs out.

“Even before we had started he was closing his eyes.

“By the end of the show that man was nearly jumping out of his seat because there’s so much going on and he got so into it.”

Grandpa in my Pocket; Richmond Theatre; September 11 to 15; various times, see atgtickets.com/richmond; £9.50 to £16; 0844 8717651.