You may well, by now, be suffering from festive overload, what with all those shoving shopping crowds, one too many mince pies and more than enough mulled wine, but there’s always time to squeeze in another kids’ show. Hurry Up, Father Christmas! – with a title like that, it’s like it’s reading every child’s mind – turns out to be a friendly little effort, written by Helen Eastman and directed by Amy Mulholland, in the Playhouse’s tiny studio venue. With cushions on the floor for parents to squash up with their offspring, it’s almost like sitting in someone’s front room rather than an actual theatre.
Now, I don’t think anyone will be making great claims for narrative sophistication here: Mr Tick Tock (Richard Evans) is busying himself in Father Christmas’ sleigh workshop, waiting for the moment he can stop the clocks for the big man’s gift run, while his sidekick Ivy the Elf (Leonie Spilsbury) has got a few tasks to carry out before things can kick off – principally, making sure there’s enough magic dust to keep the sleigh in the air. And that’s about it. I won’t spoil the surprise by revealing whether Ivy does or doesn’t lose all the magic dust, nor whether Father Christmas will have to hurry up at some point – that’s for me to know, and you to find out.
Suffice to say that, after a few difficult moments in other supposedly kiddie-friendly plays and films, I can report that this is entirely harmless and fun – good for the little ones (three-plus) as well as slightly older kids. In fact, your child might end up with a brussels sprout to either take away or return to the actors, as is their preference. There’s plenty of help requested from the audience, so most children present will get a chance to go on stage, if they want to, and the performers – particularly Leonie Spilsbury, who does most of the heavy lifting in terms of audience interaction – prove nicely adept at fielding the less relevant suggestions the kids fire back at them. A mention, too, must go to the third member of the team, Will Adler, AKA Elf and Safety, who kept an eye on things and hurled vegetables with aplomb.
All in all, a fun cap on the Christmas madness, and one that will see you benignly through the holiday period.
• Until 4 January 2015. Box office: 01865 305305. Venue: Oxford Playhouse
