Christmas comes to town with a twinkly treat for the family

Puppetry, original music and a brave young heroine lead Wrongsemble’s new family show through Stockton and Gosforth this December. SAM WONFOR reports

- 

From left, Charles Doherty (Tim), Maryam Ali (Clementine) and Roo Arwen (Glitch) in A Town Called Christmas

(ROBLING PHOTOGRAPHY)

CHILDREN across the North East are being treated to a dose of “pure delight, escapism and twinkly festive magic” this month as A Town Called Christmas brings its uplifting story to two of the region's stages.

The Wrongsemble and Red Ladder production is currently charming audiences at ARC Stockton as part of its UK winter tour, before it heads to Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle from December 19-21.

For writer and co-director Elvi Piper, the show springs from a deep-rooted love of festive theatre. She vividly remembers being “completely transported” during a Bobby Davro panto on a primary school trip.

“The sparkly costumes, the cheeky jokes, the huge dance numbers, the puppets, and what (to me) felt like real magic happening before my eyes completely swept me up,” she says.

Those memories underpin the world she has created for A Town Called Christmas - a warm, musical adventure for audiences aged three and up, designed to ignite imaginations in exactly the way hers was all those years ago.