The Elves and the Shoemaker Review

York Theatre Royal – until Sat 5th Jan

Reviewed by Zoe Lawton

5*****

The Elves and the Shoemaker at York Theatre Royal is a truly magical and heartwarming experience for the Christmas period. Although the set itself is very basic, and the studio only small this only helped the audience fully engage into the story.  Clever use of props and lighting helped further in the story telling and bringing it all to life in the Shoemaker’s shop, through words, song, dance and music the story unfolds as we follow the Shoemaker and his wife on their quest to find out who has been helping them at night.

Thankfully the tale is traditional and as I remembered it myself as a child which was lovely as grandparents, parents and younger children were clearly enjoying the show in equal measures. The actors/puppeteers were extremely talented and clearly passionate engaging us in several sections of the story to all join in, and whilst operating the puppets making the younger audience genuinely believe the little puppets were real elves!

The performance is approximately an hour long which is just right for those with youngsters, I cannot recommend this show to families with younger children enough (or grandparent’s wanting an excuse to see it) you will not be disappointed.