Our first school audiences were totally silent in parts,” Greg Barnett recalls, “and we thought we’d blown it, that we hadn’t engaged them, and then we realised it was because the children were concentrating very hard and were totally drawn in by the story. It was a compliment.”

“But that’s the difference between a family audience and an older one, which took a while to get used to.”

Greg, aka Mr Fox himself in Fantastic Mr Fox, is less flashy than his furry counterpart, but no less devoted to the cause, even if it is touring the country with the Roald Dahl classic rather than raiding the local farm and making off with its goodies.

But now that Hollywood has taken its slice of the Mr Fox pie, George Clooney voicing Greg’s role, Mr Fox is big business it seems.

“It was quite a daunting role to take on,” Greg admits.

“George Clooney made it famous and people tend to think of the film now when you mention Fantastic Mr Fox, but I haven’t watched it. I didn’t want to be enslaved to the film version and anyway the story is all in the writing.

Jumping at the chance to play Mr Fox, Greg was intrigued by his balance of elegance and charm versus the rockstar persona, which is his downfall.

“He does think he’s fantastic, but the rest of the time he’s all about everyone else.”

Not all soft and fluffy, and as with all Roald Dahl stories, Fantastic Mr Fox does have a dark side, which isn’t something the producers shied away from: “The farmers are quite gruesome and help bring the musical into the modern age, so while some still have a rose tinted view of the countryside, and think farming is still all about green fields and happy cows, this is more realistic, more industrial, and concentrates on factory farming and modern practices.

“But then the farmers have to be the baddies because we need to get the audience on side with us,” he laughs, “even though the moral of the story is about working as a team.”

Slightly touchy about calling it ‘children’s’ rather than ‘family theatre’, Greg plays down any mainstream connotations. “It’s not Peppa Pig or Room on a Broom, it’s a full on musical. It’s the same as doing Shakespeare or my last family show Swallows and Amazons.

“We created the characters from scratch and did a lot of research on the animals themselves to make sure we portrayed them in 3D style with all the right movements, so studied how they feed, rest and hunt, to get the essence of the characters.

“So it is a family show not a kids show. We are telling a proper story and the production has so much energy and works on so many levels. What I love best is when children and adults are laughing at the same joke but for very different reasons, so it has undertones.”

The glowing reviews speak for themselves, with the tour kicking off before Christmas, including a month in London: “When you leave London, the audiences tend to get louder and more raucous which is fun so we can’t wait to get to Oxford.”

So did Greg know Fantastic Mr Fox would be a hit from day one? “No one ever knows what’s going to be successful but Roald Dahl certainly helps because we all know and love his work and it strikes a chord with every generation.

“And yet ever effort has been made to ensure it’s contemporary, because children don’t have the same nostalgia as adults, so we’ve made it new, gritty and exciting.

“It’s a really strong piece with an amazing set for us to play with. Everything has an edgy twist: the foxes are in tracksuits, the girls in 80s leotards.

“It’s like an episode of The Simpsons.”

Fantastic Mr Fox runs until Saturday. oxfordplayhouse.com or 01865 305305.