Four star review of Mikron's Twitchers at Bingley Arts Centre

Celebrating their 50th anniversary and their 51st season this year, the small but mighty Mikron Theatre company, who famously tour by narrowboat, are currently touring with this wonderful celebration of the work of the RSPB.

Set on a fictional Yorkshire nature reserve where the staff are excitedly awaiting the arrival of the Springwatch production crew who are coming to film a segment, Twitchers is a joyous, playful show that does the RSPB and its – female – founders proud. Since 1889 the organisation, Europe’s largest conservation charity, has been protecting birds and wildlife.

Poppy Hollman’s witty script also pays affectionate tribute to the army of bird lovers and watchers who have helped the RSPB do its invaluable work over the 134 years of its existence – and gives voice to the birds themselves. A whole array of our feathered friends are represented here – from Barry and Frieda the rook couple who arrive at the reserve and are impressed by the facilities (“It’s almost like they planned it”), to a flirty, polygamous male bittern who attracts females with his boom call and a pair of avocets conducting an elaborate mating ritual.

The four talented actor-musicians – Eddie Ahrens, Harvey Badger, Hannah Baker and Rachel Hammond – take on multiple roles, both human and avian, while also singing and playing a variety of instruments including the accordion, guitar, saxophone, clarinet and flute. All their individual performances are outstanding and they work brilliantly as an ensemble, using simple props and bits of costume to create a world of fully-rounded characters. A particular highlight is the start of the second half of the show which opens with a fabulous medley of songs adapted to suit various species of birds – it includes wood pigeons singing along to a Kraftwerk-style number, sparrows stepping in time to a cock-ern-ey ditty, doo-wopping magpies and close harmony singing from long-tailed tits.

Overall, the production delivers a blend of fascinating historical and ornithological information, plenty of laughs, fantastic original music and songs plus a powerful message about the need to take care of our environment and a subtle call to action. There are some sobering statistics about the number of native bird species that are now under threat, sly digs at the self-serving callousness of certain politicians, and the polluting of our rivers and lakes by greedy water companies, but none of it is didactic or preachy.

Informative, hugely entertaining and quietly political, this is Mikron doing what they do best. Wonderful.

Touring until April 19.