When the British children's theatre company Polka Theatre comes to Bermuda this weekend to present six performances of 'Martha's Wild Goose Chase' under the auspices of the Bermuda Festival, perhaps its most delighted audience member will be Lady Judy Vereker, who is not only a founding director of the 25-year-old company but was also instrumental in working with the Bermuda Festival to bring it here.

"Polka is celebrating its quarter century in November and I was there at the very beginning, so obviously I have a very great love for the Theatre," Lady Vereker says.

"It is dedicated to children and young people, and is very much at the forefront of exciting changes currently happening in other theatres in the UK."

She is particularly proud of the innovative and dedicated components that make up Polka Theatre, all of which are specifically designed to attract and cater to children from as young as three up to the age of 16.

"In Britain the whole ethos is that children can take ownership because they participate in the productions," Lady Vereker says. "Polka is purely a professional theatre for actors and the whole creative team - musicians, lighting and set designers among them. They are all adults but they put on plays for children in a theatre which is specifically designed for children. The building itself is full of interesting shapes, and you can walk into beautiful exhibition rooms showing displays of former productions, props, costumes and more. It is an amazing place with two performing areas: the Adventure Theatre, which is for children aged three to six years, as well as some special events; and the 300-seat theatre upstairs, which is very decorative, colourful and intimate, and is used by children aged five to twelve."

In recent months, a new component, Polka Youth Theatre, has also been added which is aimed at 13-16 year olds.

"They do very professional things and work with the professionals," Lady Vereker says.

Overall, she describes Polka Theatre's work as "cutting edge, pushing the boundaries of what is expected of theatre".

"In the past, theatre for children was limited to perhaps a 'Punch and Judy' production, which is part of the UK tradition, and then they were taken to adult theatre at some point to see productions like pantomime which were suitable for children, whereas Polka is a theatre actually designed for young people. It has workshops, a little restaurant, a playground, and more."

In terms of its creative approach, there is "a huge emphasis" on entirely new writing, new ideas and new creative pieces, whether they be a new kind of stage or theme, and not always taking a piece of literature.

"Polka has been used as a venue for working with new as well as established writers to get them more interested in writing for children," Lady Vereker says.

"In order to encourage new writing and working with new directors for children up to age 16, we are going to cast some play readings in the Adventure Theatre. In addition, we have our own home-grown Polka productions that last a few weeks, and also theatre companies from Europe. They are going to be doing some play readings, which is nice, and at the end of January they are doing to team up with some of Britain's leading theatre directors to do some rehearsed readings of each of the five plays that were written last year for the play-grounding project.

"Polka is not only a place that welcomes new writing, but it also helps to generate new writing by actually helping the writers in a Polka home-grown," Lady Vereker says.

In Bermuda, 'Martha's Wild Goose Chase' will be performed by two actors, and will include "puppetry, song and adventure", Lady Vereker reveals.

Set on the Scottish island of Islay, from whence hails Polka's artistic director, Annie Wood, the work is designed particularly for children aged four to seven, but has also played to audiences aged three to ten, all of whom were "enthralled".

"The play was first created for a schools tour around the Scottish highlands in 1999," Lady Vereker says. "Since then it has gone much farther afield, and has played in major festivals in the United States and Canada, including Montreal, Philadelphia, Toronto, Washington, DC, and even New York's New Victory theatre - the only children's theatre on Broadway."

Running for approximately 50 minutes, 'Martha's Wild Goose Chase' touches on many different issues, the key one of which is how two characters, in spite of their differences in upbringing, can strike up a very rewarding and long-term friendship.

"It is very infectious - the goose is quite a character - and also endearing. There is a poignant lesson with lots of giggles," Lady Vereker says.

Rick Conte has two roles: both as the postman and also as a puppeteer, while Pauline Knowles is Martha.

"They both have extremely good acting records." Lady Vereker says. "As far as the show goes, I think all families will enjoy it. I believe it is one of the very first occasions where theatre for children has been programmed into the Festival's live theatre (line-up), although I know there have been other shows suitable for children."

The Governor's wife describes artistic director Ms Wood as "very creative, with a tremendous reputation for directing all over the world".

"She is very innovative, and her take on theatre is an exciting new one," she says.

Indeed, Polka Theatre coming to Bermuda is the culmination of a cherished dream for the Governor's wife.

"Ever since I arrived here I have been very keen to build links between the theatre world I knew in the UK because I think through the arts we can learn so much from each other. In fact, the broadening of different cultures and different ways of life through threatre is age-old.

"Messages of camaraderie and issues worked out has been the emphasis of the arts, and especially so in Polka. Many of its shows have a lot of different cutting-edge material about the problems of today, and trying to get over people's bigotry and hatred. 'Martha's Wild Goose Chase' is about friendship in spite of issues. Through art we can learn so much about each other, and we can benefit from each other's culture through the link between this Scottish play, the UK and Bermuda."

Polka Theatre will give six performances of the children's play on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For full details see the Bermuda Calendar.