Writer: Elvi Piper
Directors: Elvi Piper and Richard Priestley
Wakefield Exchange is a new venue, fashioned earlier this year out of the old Market Hall, with a huge open space and numerous food outlets. Theatre is not the venue’s main preoccupation, but the attendances for Red Ladder’s double bill must surely boost the prospects of future ventures. This first part, aimed at the very young, was a joint production by Wrongsemble and Red Ladder.
A Town Called Christmas makes for a delightful 45 minutes, with excellent songs by Bay Bryan and Claire O’Connor, slick sound effects (Tom Blackband) and charming puppets by Kathleen Yore. Elvi Piper’s clever script never talks down to the youngsters and was rewarded by close attention and Antony Jones’ designs make light of the small stage, with an attractive background and free-standing representations of old-fashioned houses that metamorphose into (among other things) railway carriages.
Clementine is the central character. Early on she reminisces about her Aunt Esther who told her of a town called Christmas where the church clock chimed and gingerbread houses lined the streets: her only memento of the place is half of an ornament. Clementine decides to visit Christmas, but to her disappointment it is dead, a shadow of its past glory inhabited by Glitch, a robot guide, and Tim, a grumpy caretaker. Glitch is plagued by power failures as well as her own stammer and Tim refuses to take part when they realise that only memories can save Christmas.
They re-visit Aunt Esther’s past with puppets of Esther and the small boy who threw a snowball at her when she first arrived. Of course it was Tim who suddenly unbends, reveals the other half of what proves to be a heart and Christmas is restored!
All three cast members sing well and move neatly in Piper and Richard Priestley’s production – and the songs are good, too, especially Tim’s “nobody cares for us” dismissal of the town of Christmas. Maryam Ali’s Clementine is innocence rewarded and puts over a series of the worst Christmas gags (with appropriate sound effects) with cheerful optimism. Roo Arwen comes up with a neat double of nice Aunt Esther and never-quite-in-control robot Glitch: the scene where she is bullied at robot school is particularly effective, with Ali and Charles Doherty spot on as the bullies. Doherty’s main task is as the initially grumpy caretaker Tim, nicely convincing, especially when he decides to remember.
It’s a warm celebration of Christmas, never overtly childish, with smartly rhyming songs and a perfect balance of silliness and seriousness.
Reviewed on 15th December 2025. Tours to Gosforth, Huddersfield and Brighton.
