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A gentle, joyful tale brought to life with impressive acrobatics and magical music.Summary
Rating
Good
Christmas Comes to Moominvalley is a gentle and joyful story about the wonder of the season, adapted from Tove Jansson’s classic tale The Fir Tree. It’s the dead of winter: a time when the Moomin family are hibernating. They’re most surprised, therefore, when the Hemulen comes to wake them up, complaining that nothing is ready for Christmas and they have to help. But what is Christmas? Is it something terrible and frightening? The family set about finding out, and although they are initially concerned, they come to realise that it actually appeals to all the best qualities they share with family and friends, including tolerance, generosity and kindness.
There’s an extremely talented cast in this show, made up of circus/physical performers, puppeteers and musicians (Xenia Garden, Myles Macdonald, Aya Nakamura, Carys Nicholls and Lawrence Waddle). We’re first introduced to them as the Woodies, a group of colourful people who perform amazing acrobatics, keeping the audience of young children open-mouthed as they climb on each other’s shoulders, spin through the air and juggle impressively. They effortlessly achieve extraordinary feats and have the audience gasping in delight.
We go on to meet them as many of the familiar characters from Jansson’s beloved books; Moominmamma, Moominpappa, the Snorkmaiden and Moomin himself. Fillyjonks speeds across the stage on roller skates and the Hemulen is predictably bossy, ordering everyone about. The Moomins are the size of a full grown adult rather than tiny trolls, the costumes a clever combination of masks and body suits, with articulated eyes that open and close, looking right at the attentive audience to engage directly with them. Their bodies are perhaps a little shapeless, but do allow for maximum mobility as the characters perform. There are some limitations to what can be done one-handed whilst holding a mask, meaning the Moomin characters aren’t massively dynamic, but this is offset by having accompanying acrobats to give activity to an otherwise gentle story.
Having to deliver lines from under the masks does cause a slight issue of the words becoming muted, so difficult to hear. However, if you can’t quite pick out what’s being said, the text is projected as captions embedded across the set throughout.
Indeed, projections add beautifully to the wintry feeling of the show, creating snowflakes softly falling and the impact of snowballs as they hit during a snowball fight. Additionally, wonderful music and singing adds to the magical Christmas atmosphere. In particular, beautiful harp playing from Garden will send a tingle down your spine.
Alison Alexander’s clever set design includes the Moomins’ house, which at times becomes transparent so we can see within, watching them sleeping or going about their daily business. There’s also a large swing that is used playfully, with performers sitting to swing, or as a footing from which to make a human tower, before clambering down the ropes.
Christmas Comes to Moominvalley celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Moomin stories, and plays as part of Jackon’s Lane’s 50th year. At 50 minutes long, this production is just the right length for a family audience from age 3+ this Christmas.
Adapted and directed by: Kaveh Rahnama
Design by: Alison Alexander
Music/Sound Design by: Liam Quinn
Christmas Comes to Moominvalley runs at Jackson’s Lane Theatre until 5th January. Further information and booking details can be found here.
