A Child’s Christmas in Wales review – exquisite Dylan Thomas adaptation has magic in every scene

The Lucky Chance, Frome
Joy radiates from the stage as an ensemble cast from the Emma Rice Company bring Thomas’s twinkling poem to life

Dylan Thomas’s beautiful Christmas poem has that amazing ability to slow life down. It’s a poem to rest inside, with its gently tumbling sentences and twinkling memories of Christmases past. Emma Rice’s exquisite adaptation shares these qualities. There are just five performers – one pianist and four actors – but they bring a flurry of characters to life. There is a little bit of magic in every scene, all of which glow with a very Thomas-esque combination of hope and melancholy.

The ensemble performs in the Emma Rice Company’s new home, a converted church in Frome. It’s tiny. The audience sits on plastic chairs and – perhaps this is just Thomas’s poem casting its spell on me – but it feels like the memory of past communal gatherings lingers here. When encouraged to join in with the carols, the audience responds quickly and with relish. We throw snowballs and socks at the actors and pass around family photos of the characters in the play, handling them as fondly as if they’re our own.