Theatre / Reviews
Review: Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas
If you don’t like your job, spare a thought for the Father Christmas at Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas, now streaming online, who doesn’t like winter, snow or chimneys.
Rather than doing his duty for millions of children across the world on December 24, he would prefer to be lying on a beach in the Mediterranean.
Anyone watching this show from Bristol’s own Pins & Needles would also surely prefer to be watching it in a live environment rather than on a laptop.
But like Santa remembering why he really does love Christmas, by the end of this excellent digital experience my family and I remembered why we love the theatre so much, whether in real life or online.
Based on the book by the author of The Snowman, this production was filmed at the Lyric Hammersmith theatre, in west London, with one of the few nods to Christmas 2020 being the puppeteers on stage wearing masks.
Father Christmas at home before a busy night of work – photo: Richard Lakos
Taking my two young daughters to Bristol’s always excellent Christmas theatre shows is an annual highlight for me, and so this was an opportunity to recreate that this year, albeit from the living room of our flat.
One aspect of a digital production filmed from various camera angles is that the choice of what to look at on stage is mostly taken away from the viewer; but a bonus aspect is being able to watch proceedings from angles that we would never experience high up in the gods such as almost flying with the reindeers pulling the sleigh.
As the titular character, Marcus Hendry is a tea-drinking everyman who also just happens to have a very important job once a year, which he does – begrudgingly at first but by the end of the night full of Christmas spirit, some of which is helped by the sherry picked up as he arrives at fireplaces across the world.
While Father Christmas goes about his business (in one scene, quite literally), the astonishingly accomplished Stacey Ghent is a Foley artist extraordinaire as well as singing and playing a variety of instruments.
Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas is a wonderful piece of theatrical Christmas magic.
One thing still to look forward to in 2020 before we finally consign it to the history books is that Father Christmas will still visit those who believe in him on Christmas Eve.
Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas is a Lyric Hammersmith and Pin & Needles production, presented in digital partnership with Tobacco Factory Theatres. To buy access to a streaming link, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/raymond-briggs-father-christmas
Main photo: Richard Lakos
Read more: The brilliant Living Spit return to Bristol this Christmas
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