If you were one of the Brothers Grimm, searching high and wide for stories, there’s a chance you would find it all a bit depressing too.

At every turn there are murderous step-mothers, ugly stepsisters willing to mutilate themselves to become Queen, cursed infants and blindings and threats of beheading galore.

This understandable scenario is the set up for Teatro Vivo’s unusual but thrillingly good fun Hunters Grimm.

One of the brothers, Wilhelm, is so obsessed and haunted by the macabre stories and his mission to find more that he can barely function.

It’s up to us, the audience to accompany his brother Jacob and their lovestruck neighbour to find harvest stories from the streets of Deptford in the hope of finding a happy ending to lift his spirits.

From their makeshift and nicely styled base in Deptford Lounge, we are led along the dark Deptford High Street and into the various shops and bars to meet an array of bizarre characters and hear their crazy stories.

*Insert pithy comment along the lines of ‘and that was just the locals’ here*

Split off into two halves, we’re introduced to the likes of a haunted butcher and a seemingly pleasant old lady who unexpected lays a curse on a kid.

Experiencing theatre in this way is exciting and the familiarity of the Brothers’ stories adds an extra layer of excitement.

The quality of the acting from the five-strong cast is strong, with Mark Stevenson highly amusing as both Jacob Grimm and the Made in Chelsea-style Prince looking for a girl he met at a ball with only a shoe to go on.

He clearly enjoyed the interactivity of the show, enlivening the performance by getting the audience involved and feeding off what’s happening in the surrounding world - whether it is ad libbing about bin men or nipping into shops to ask unsuspecting staff if they’ve seen the missing Hansel and Gretel.

Now, here’s my confession: while Mr Stevenson was very accomplished, I don’t enjoy being part of the show.

Maybe it’s because I’m overexposed to TV or film but I get uncomfortable when actors talk to me.

So come ready for a bit of banter or, if you’re like me, maybe pop to the bar beforehand for a little Dutch courage.

When other people were reacting, though, I was more than happy.

In fact, the highlight of the evening for me was a hilarious turn by Joel Mellinger as the sleepy Gunter, who regularly had to be woken by an audience member stroking his knee.

Sarah Finigan put in a brilliant performance wherever she cropped up, with Hilda the step sister and Olga the Owl my favourites.

News Shopper:

With a relatively small cast, perhaps the most impressive facet of the evening was the logistics. Rather than on stage, the actors had to dash from one location to the next and arrive, right on cue, usually in a totally different costume.

After just under two hours of searching, we were lucky enough to find a happy ending and it was up to the audience to share it with Wilhelm in a back room at The Albany.

This is where the audience interaction was its strongest and the finale is a touching and fitting end to a fun couple of hours exploring.

Hunters Grimm leave Deptford Lounge at 7.30pm daily until Saturday, November 8. Tickets cost £12, £10 concessions or £8 for Deptford residents. Go to thealbany.org.uk