“Magical, super Christmassy and genuinely heart-warming” on the Chichester stage

Matt Haig’s story has been adapted for the stage by Philip Wilson. It will run from December 15-31.

Dale Rooks, director of Learning, Education & Participation (LEAP) at the CFT, directs one of her favourite Christmas stories.

“I read it two years ago and I absolutely loved it. There are lots of stories about Father Christmas but I've not read a fantasy story about discovering who he was when he was a boy.

“Matt Haig, the author, who is Brighton based, said his son when he was seven said to him ‘I know who Father Christmas is. But who was he when he was a boy?’ And that inspired Matt to write the novel.

“It is really wonderful. The features are brilliantly memorable characters and a fast-moving plot which twists and turns. There are some great scenes in it and there are some great subtle messages about the importance of love and kindness and determination and most of all hope.”

For 11-year-old Nikolas, whose nickname is Christmas because he was born on December 25, life isn’t easy. With only a doll made out of a turnip to keep him company, he believes in happiness but isn’t happy very often. Until the day he sets out – with his pet mouse Miika and a reindeer called Blitzen – on an extraordinary quest to follow his father and to find Elfhelm, the fabled village of the elves.

“The boy is growing up in Finland and he lives with his father in the middle of the forest, and they are very poor. His father is sent on a quest to find an elf in Elfhelm, and Carlotta who is the wicked aunt and a little bit like Trunchbull in Matilda, is sent to look after him. She is really dreadful to him and eventually kicks him out into the snow. He goes off to find his father. He finds him and he takes the elf that has been kidnapped by his father back to Elfhelm where he becomes the hero.

“It is a story that has got lots and lots of scope for the youth theatre, for brilliant cameo roles and then to be part of the bigger on ensemble scenes. We have been able to invent some characters as well, and we've also got puppetry. It's very magical and it is very Christmassy and it is very heartwarming.

“We started rehearsals in the third week of September, and I am having such fun. I'm having too much fun! I always feel that it is one of the greatest Christmas gifts for me so do the Christmas show and to be back in the rehearsal room. I've not done it for two years and it's fantastic to be with these lovely young people and to be collaborating with such a fantastic team and to be working on what has become one of my favourite Christmas stories. I've done all the classics and I've done some of them twice so it is great to be working on something that is a little bit different.”

Over in the Minerva this Christmas is a Chichester Festival Theatre and Unicorn Theatre production of Stiles and Drewe’s The Three Little Pigs, music by George Stiles, book and lyrics by Anthony Drewe (December 6-28, age guidance three to seven), a show which comes promised as a “charming and witty adventure is full of catchy songs and clever rhymes which will have you squealing with glee as three superstar piglets set about defeating the Big Bad Wolf.”

Devoted Mother Pig is raising her three little pigs – sporty Bar, nature-loving Bee and bookworm Q – after Father Pig was gobbled by the Big Bad Wolf. But when their home starts looking like a really messy pigsty, Mother encourages her fast-growing youngsters to make their own way in the big wide world. Bar, Bee and Q set about building their own houses from straw, sticks and bricks. But can they get the better of the huffing, puffing, always hungry (and a bit misunderstood) Big Bad Wolf?

Tickets from the CFT.