CHAOTIC, crazy and good fun, the second stage instalment of Scooby-Doo packed out Billingham Forum with excitable youngsters and, to be honest, fairly baffled adults as the cowardly, ghost-chasing dog went through his paces.

Best of all, Gateshead’s Jamie Brown made his big professional starring role as the daft dog which has been amusing generations of TV fans for 40 years. Squeezing his 6ft frame inside the skin of a “rooby-roo” spouting Scooby costume, Brown clowned, capered, danced, sang and outwitted ghosts in front of a posse of adoring youngsters.

Did Canadian writer-director Jim Millan’s second crack at a live-action stage show have to make any sense? Not really, as a flurry of dream dance contests, Scooby becoming an air hostess and an appearance by Elvis (singing You Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog) proved.

Do the young cast have to have a little more faith in the farce-paced script? Most definitely. Shaggy (Matthew Bloxham), Fred (Jamie Wilson), Daphne (Selina Macdonald) and Velma (Laura Sicurello) are beautifully crafted, costumed and acted, but a little more work on comic timing is required, particularly in the “it’s behind you sequences”.

Sarah Chamberlain works hard as the Pirate Queen and Velma’s treacherous friend who tricks the Mystery Inc gang into investigating a treasure island mystery. Danny Bage, Amanda-Jane Short and Mark Morgan make up the rest of the quick-change, quick-fire acting team who help put the animated into adventure.

Three youngsters alongside me lapped up everything Scooby could throw at them… and that’s all that matters.

■ Runs at Billingham until Sunday – box office 01642- 552663 – and then tours to Sunderland Empire, May 22- 24. Call 0844-847-2499 for details.