REVIEW: Hey! Christmas Tree full of hope and heart and utterly charming in Chichester

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Hey! Christmas Tree, written by Vicki Berwick, from an original idea by Michael Morpurgo, music and lyrics by Eamonn O'Dwyer, Minerva Theatre, Chichester until Sunday, December 29.

Hey! Christmas Tree offers a festive tale of huge charm in the Minerva this holiday. Not only does it look delightful throughout and is sweetly and sensitively acted, but it also manages to say something of substance – and to say it beautifully, managing to pitch its messages of home, family and belonging at so many different levels that you sense it’s a show that will work for everyone, whether you are three or… ahem… considerably older than that.

The tale of Tree who is plucked from the forest on Christmas Eve and taken home by motorbiking park ranger Mavis (Amanda Gordon), it’s a story of putting down roots both literally and metaphorically – a tale mirrored by that of silent nine-year-old Yulia (Olivia Arnold) whose mutism is clearly brought on by trauma. Her war-torn tragic past is so cleverly and thoughtfully given to us through projections. Nothing to scare the children; plenty to make the grown-ups think.

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Completing the household is Callum Balmforth’s cheeky Winston the cat, a performance which absolutely captures and distils essence of cat.

And in this home, Tree (beautifully expressive from Nick Howard-Brown) starts to find a place to be safe and to be loved – just as Yulia does. As a year passes, those roots in every sense grow deeper. Which you can take at any level appropriate to your age, though probably the older you are, the more poignant you will find it.

It's a show about caring and nurturing – and all the benefits that inevitably follow. You might just find yourself choking up a little when Yulia finally finds her voice. And then just to warm the cockles of your heart a little more, all the kiddies in the audiences are invited onto the stage at the end.

Completing the cast is Samantha Bingley as Susan the Snow Woman and Father Christmas. If ever you want to see a Snow Woman teaching a tree to dance and a tree teaching a cat to dance, this is the show for you.

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Inspired by Michael Morpurgo’s book of poems My Heart Was a Tree, and written for the stage by Vicki Berwick, with music and lyrics by Eamonn O’Dwyer, Hey! Christmas Tree is truly something special – and in Dale Rooks (has ever an MBE been more richly deserved?), it finds precisely the director to bring out its warmth, its heart and its importance. Absolutely beautiful.

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