The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre today announces the full cast and creative team for the return of Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas, the critically acclaimed production adapted by Pins and Needles, running at The Berry Theatre from Saturday 9th to Sunday 31st December.
Directed by Emma Earle, the production is filled with live music and puppetry and is perfect for under 6-year-olds and their families. For the touring production at The Berry Theatre the cast includes Mike Aherne, Imogen Khan, Hazel Monaghan.
Since being published in 1973, the late Raymond Briggs’ much-loved children’s book has been adapted for stage and screen and has now entertained thousands of families at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre for the last 12 years.
To book tickets; https://www.theberrytheatre.co.uk/events/raymond-briggs-father-christmas-dec-2023/
Biographies
Raymond Briggs (Writer) was born in London in 1934. He was the author of the hugely successful children's books Father Christmas and The Snowman. These books have been translated into many languages and adapted into films, stage shows and animations. His other books include Fungus the Bogeyman, The Bear, Ug, When the Wind Blows, Ethel & Ernest, a biography of his parents, and his latest, Time for Lights Out, a contemplation on old age, told through words and pictures.
Emma Earle (Director) returns to the Lyric for another festive season, directing familyfavourite Raymond Brigg’s Father Christmas. Other credits for the Lyric include Scoop, Holly & Ivan’s Christmas Adventure. Other theatre includes: Alice in Wonderland (Mercury Theatre); Adventures in Wonderland (The Vaults and Shanghai); The Bear (Midlands Arts Centre); OZ (Tobacco Factory Theatres); Oi Frog & Friends! (Lyric, West End); Select A
Quest (online); Mr Popper’s Penguins (Criterion, West End and New Victory New York); Flies (Pleasance, Edinburgh); The Scarlet Pimpernel (Theatre Royal Bath); Little Mermaid (the egg); Dinner at the Twits (The Vaults); The Fantastical Flying Exploratory Laboratory (GDIF);The Marvellous Imaginary Menagerie (Latitude); Ernest and the Pale Moon (Pleasance Edinburgh); Twelfth Night (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School); Gizmo Love (Tobacco Factory); Elves and the Shoemakers (Tobacco Factory); The Shape of Things (Ustinov Studio); Yer Tis
(the egg); Glengarry Glen Ross (Ustinov Studio); The Grapes of Wrath (the egg); Pavement (Alma Theatre); Riot (the egg); A Clockwork Orange (Alma Theatre).
Pins and Needles Productions is an award-winning, female-led theatre company based in Bristol, led by Director/Designer partnership Emma Earle and Zoe Squire. They create imaginative, transformational theatre for all ages and are passionate about finding playful ways to tell stories full of heart, humour and magic. Pins and Needles Productions are well known for their bold adaptations of children’s books and are incredibly proud to have been trusted to adapt two of Raymond Briggs’ classic books for the stage; Father Christmas and The Bear, both of which are playing in the UK this Christmas. Recent work includes OZ, a new adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which played at Tobacco Factory Theatres in 2021; Oi Frog & Friends!, produced by Kenny Wax Family Entertainment, which was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Family Show in 2020;
and Select A Quest, an online interactive adventure. In 2018, they won the UK Theatre award for Best Show for Children and Young People for Little Mermaid, co-produced with the egg, Theatre Royal Bath, and their musical adaptation of Mr Popper’s Penguins has toured the USA extensively, following runs in the West End and New York. Work for older audiences includes Flies by Oliver Lansley and their current project in development, an immersive, non linear adaptation of The War of the Worlds by Matt Grinter. www.pinsandneedlesproductions.co.uk
