The action opens with Alana (Helen Barrett) and Kelly (Deborah Huxford-Hunt) playing hide and seek.  It’s soon clear that Kelly’s the bossy one and Alana the shy one, exemplified in the difference in length of their letters to Santa Claus.  Thru the magic of theatrical FX we follow the letters as they are blown on the wind to the North Pole.

Enter Sam Berkely as Elfy, Santa’s chief Elf, walking like an Egyptian to Jingle Bells.  Elfy runs the affairs of Santa’s toy workshop with stylish hyperactivity, and is inspired to invite Kelly to the North Pole as Santa’s singular annual special guest.  One impressive flying bed scene later, enough anticipation having built up, Kelly and we are finally introduced to Santa himself.  My son Loki asked if it’s the real Santa Claus, which indeed he is according to the programme (with Tim Raby as the stunt double for his dynamic entrance).  Big, jolly, friendly and funny – that’s Santa alright. 

It seems curious that Elfy chooses the greediest (‘Not greedy, just clever!’ -Kelly) child with the longest list of toys they want for Christmas he’s ever seen, to be Santa’s Christmas guest.  It seems at first like she’s been chosen to be taught a harsh lesson, about all the less fortunate children and Santa’s worry that as the population rises he may not be able to give them all their coveted gifts.  Santa loves all children you see, not only good ones.  In the end the lesson is very softly learned.  This must be the pervading magic of Christmas, that teaches joy with joy and peace with peace. 

Loki’s favourite character was Natasha-Leigh Lewis’ Rudolph the reindeer with the famous red nose, the secret origin of which is revealed to be having been struck by lightning.  His favourite scene was the extended hide-and-seek match between Kelly and an assortment of Christmas presents brought to life.  The bit I liked best was the shadow puppet present wrapping machine, and my favourite characters were assistant elves Twitty and Twiddly, performed with playful precociousness by Emily and Rebecca Ansell.  

In fact everyone’s performance is good, enhanced nicely by the excellent live musical accompaniment of Robbie Ellis.  Chantelle Gerrard’s fun-filled costume design is generally spot on, especially the classically presented title character and his sidekick.  Only Barbie seemed a bit to cool and funky for the character as I understand her, but I’m not complaining.  Under the dynamic lights of Robert Hunte, set design veteran John Parker supplies an enchanting and versatile range of sets for the show, utilising such ingenious solutions as crumpled white paper to represent ice.  

A personal first for me was observing sign language interpreters Kelly Hodgins and Lynnley Pitcher, translating the script for any deaf audience members from the side of the stage.  Not being fluent myself, it conversely serves as a small lesson in the art of signing. 

The production on the whole successfully captures the attention of the mostly very young crowd for the whole hour, no problem.  I’ve said before in reviews for playwright/director Tim Bray’s children’s plays how delightful they can be as an old-school alternative to ultra-sensationalist modern entertainment, and I say it again.  Not that The Santa Claus Show is without sensation – far from it. Bray’s modern day Kiwi Christmas pageant is resplendent with quirky characters, candid quips, quick changes, crazy costumes, as well as more serious social questions for consideration.  All in all a merry little Christmas cracker. 
 

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