Mozart, Monsters and Matisse lasted just an hour, but it was an utterly enchanting hour that captivated adults quite as much as the many children in the audience.

As in all good children's theatre -- and this show ranks among the very best we've seen in any Festival season -- there was no attempt to talk `down' to kids. On the contrary, the magical Marshall Izen and Jim West take it for granted that Mozart and Matisse are children-friendly, and then proceed to prove it. Their show, embracing music, art and puppetry, was visually captivating and, in the all the right moments, very funny.

Marshall Izen, who has received countless awards and two Emmys for his outstanding achievements as "creator, performer, writer and set designer'' has a formal background in both music and art, which he has since used to complement a natural wit -- a combination that has proved a winner in his concentration on children's theatre.

Jim West, who studied drama and art, also runs his own one-man story shows and has been a guest on TV's `Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood'. He joined forces with Izen ten years ago and this show is one of three they have created together.

Why did Izen choose Mozart as the theme music for this show? "Because he's my favourite composer,'' confided the former Juilliard music graduate, as he strolled onstage, adding that January 27 was Mozart's birthday.

Without more ado, and to the accompaniment of the Piano Concerto No. 27, he introduced the maestro in puppet form, complete with a toy-size grand piano (a pair of furiously conducting hands appearing over the black divide), and then a miniscule violin with which he proceeded to serenade his lady-love.

To delighted applause from the children, Marshall Izen and Jim West showed them how to make puppets for themselves from the simplest of materials.

This led to the story of Tamino and his wife, Dorabella, where a giant pop-up book provided a picturesque old-Europe setting for the troubadour who had to save his island home from a fearful monster. The music to "soothe the savage beast'' was snippets from `The Magic Flute' and the puppets acted out their fantastical tale of shipwrecks, mermaids and mermen, and the man-in-the-moon who directs Dorabella to brush the monster three times with the tail of a shooting star.

The fable as to why the weeping willow weeps was given a new twist by Izena and West, who used only their gloved hands to tell the time-honoured story of the beautiful rose (red fingers), torn away from her friend the tree by a wicked human. The willow tree, bowed with grief and almost drowning in its tears of sorrow (drooping green fingers), notices that one day, a new flower has grown up in its place.

The last story took us to the world of the great French artist, Henri Matisse who, bed-ridden toward the end of his life, and no longer able to paint, began working in brightly coloured cut-out paper shapes arranged in abstract patterns: a marvellous starting point for the final piece in the show, with the children first being shown how to cut simple shapes for themselves.

The Aesop fable of `Little Blue', a fish who strays from his safe grotto to the dangers of the deep, dark ocean, received a beautiful re-telling by this talented pair. Set against a black curtain, the brilliantly hued inhabitants of the undersea world certainly bore more than a passing resemblance to the style of Matisse.

An enthralling introduction to the world of theatrical make-believe by two artists who demonstrate the all too often ignored maxim that children's theatre deserves the very best of talent.

PATRICIA CALNAN A MAGICAL WORLD -- Marshall Izen (right) and Jim West (left) surrounded by some of the puppets and cut-outs from their children's show which proved a hit in Bermuda.