What makes a good Christmas show? Many an artistic director will have scratched their heads over that knotty problem. Christmas is a time for coming together so tradition will always have a sympathetic hearing, and as it may well be a child’s first experience of live theatre a little magic does not go amiss. So what could be more appropriate than a story about a plot to cancel Christmas set in motion by a dastardly magician? Season that with elements of a thriller and your plot is well sprung. For the latter we can detect elements of John Buchan, but for the thread of fantasy novelist John Masefield had nothing but the medieval fantasy novels of William Morris, so was mapping new territory with his modern Box of Delights. The up-to-date fantasy world with flying cars and gangsters is Masefield’s own. The magical ‘Box of Delights’, a kind of proto-TARDIS, which enables the young protagonist, the orphaned Kay (Callum Balmforth) to travel through time and space at the mere flick of a button is the offspring of H G Wells’ Time Machine. It is used here to be the focus of the plot, the object of Abner Brown’s nefarious scheming, whilst also magically speeding up Kay’s detective work as he investigates the series of mysterious disappearances which begin after Kay is given the box by the enigmatic Cole Hawlings (Stephen Boxer).

This stage adaption by Piers Torday stays close to the original in spirit whilst giving a lick of fresh paint to the characters. Maria (Mae Munuo) for example, would more likely be found kick-boxing than wielding a hockey stick or flouncing around in a dress. Director Justin Audibert keeps things moving at a lick and squeezes some humour out of the dialogue particularly with the delightfully diffident  Peter (Jack  Humphrey).

Last night’s performance showed signs of being early in the run with Kay being yet to relax into the part, with a tendency to give too much weight to each line as if each one was key to his character. The same was true of Abner Brown, the evil magician (Richard Lynch) who seemed to be claiming the role of ‘Demon King’ in virtually every line. Consequently his interactions with the marvelously scratchy jewel thief, Sylvia Daisy Pouncer (Claire Price) which seemed to have all the flowery effusiveness of Dickens’ Mantalinis, were somehow blurred. Nonetheless his energy in pursuit of the powerful box is a driving force of the production.

Samuel Wyer has produced some nice puppetry which for me seemed more of an afterthought to solve a problem rather than being fully integrated into the show. Perhaps the most magical and spectacular scenes involved the Phoenix. Tom Piper’s flexible set design accommodated the great leaps in scene required by the story whilst the score and live band brought atmosphere and some Christmas cheer.

Once it finds its feet the show has all the makings of a memorable Christmas delight.

★★★☆☆   Graham Wyles   9 November 2023 

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan