Review

Crumble’s Search For Christmas at West Yorkshire Playhouse

By December 11, 2017

Theatre & Dance. Leeds.

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Images courtesy of the West Yorkshire Playhouse

It’s easy to bypass children’s theatre. After all, the whole family can enjoy a musical or a pantomime, but a glance at the cartoony poster for Crumble’s Search for Christmas will make most childless adults think “Glad I don’t have little ones dragging me to see this. Right, off to the panto…” It’s a shame, because there’s so much more wit, imagination and spectacle in a show like Crumble’s Search than your average pantomime. There’s even the sense that the adults are enjoying the show more than the children.

This 60-minute play follows Crumble, a bear preparing to hibernate for winter who has always slept through Christmas and fears the very idea of winter. When Crumble discovers a festive card, she goes searching for the fabled ‘Christmas’ and meets an array of wintry beasts, including a squirrel, a reindeer, an owl and even Winter herself, learning the true meaning of Christmas on her journey.

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This simple story is beautifully told by the excellent playwright Robert Alan Evans. His last Christmas production, the magical The Night Before Christmas, was equally innocent and cosy-feeling, like drinking a mug of warm honey and lemon. It’s hard not to grin like a kid as the set unfurls into a tumbledown bear’s sleeping den or a fairy-light-illuminated forest.

Much of the joy here is the playful characters, from a bear with a teabag on a string to a squirrel with a sweeping-brush tail, all performed by the three female actors. Lucy Bairstow is the standout, her Yorkshire drawl making Not-Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer a comical highlight, and Bairstow’s brilliant comic timing – her portentous Mother Winter always sports a solemn lip pout – will go way over the little ones’ heads.

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And this may be a bit of a problem. The show is aimed at children 2-6, but there’s not quite enough slapstick comedy to truly engage the younger audience members. The 6-10 year olds were eagerly watching, but ultimately it was the adults who chuckled the loudest. It’s more a marketing problem, finding an audience for such a wide-eyed, gleeful play, but it’s no detriment to the quality of the production. Perhaps not for the toddlers, but drag your little ones along – they’ll sit through it and you’ll leave with a massive grin on your face.

Crumble’s Search for Christmas will be playing at the West Yorkshire Playhouse until 30th December. Tickets can be purchased here.

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