Playhouse makes a start on Christmas show

Rehearsals began this week for the Playhouse's Christmas show, and it already sounds like just the ticket to get us into the festive spirit (once Halloween is over and done with). Featuring - it sez 'ere - "a giant toothy reindeer, a distracted fairy godmother, a warehouse full of pants, a mischievous Elf with a strange Spanish accent and a seasonal nod to some of our best-loved Christmas stories from It’s a Wonderful Life to A Christmas Carol", the world premiere of No Wise Men is set to be "an hilarious, magical and absurd Christmas cracker of a show". Directed by the venue's very own Gemma Bodinetz and created by celebrated theatre comics Peepolykus, No Wise Men runs from December 2 to January 15 2011. 

  Reality and the ridiculous collide in an enchanting festive adventure that will whisk the audience between Victorian England and the present day. No Wise Men tells the tale of a reckless man who risks everything one Christmas Eve. Jack Wilkins is forced into a desperate attempt to retrieve his life after accepting an irresistible offer from a sparkly eyed stranger. But time is running out and if he can't honour the deal he has struck by the allotted hour, he will lose everything forever... Peepolykus is one of the UK ’s most exciting touring theatre companies. Over the last nine years, it has exported its particular brand of humour to over 100 towns and cities across four continents and enjoyed sell-out runs at, amongst others, the Edinburgh Festival, The Lyric Hammersmith and the London International Mime Festival. The cast features Peepolykus’s 'commander-of-the-absurd' Javier Marzan along with co-writer John Nicholson; Helen Carter (Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi) and Annabelle Dowler (Tartuffe) return to the Playhouse having both appeared in hit comedy The Flint Street Nativity, while Clare Thomson (Grown Ups BBC) and Milo Twomey (Brief Encounter, Kneehigh; Band of Brothers) complete the ensemble. Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse artistic director Gemma Bodinetz joined the theatres in 2003 and directed All My Sons and Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf as well as the UK tour of Yellowman and comedy collaborations with Roger McGough on two Molière adaptations, Tartuffe and The Hypochondriac. She said: "Having seen the joy that Peepolykus brought to our audiences with The Hound of the Baskervilles and Spyski, they seemed the perfect company to bring a festive smile to our faces this Christmas. With that in mind we commissioned them to write the ultimate Christmas show in their own inimitable style. They've come up trumps with a story that sees every Christmas cliche reworked into a gorgeous cocktail of farce and wonder, time travel and the occasional song. “I'm particularly honoured to be directing one of my favourite companies and hope it puts a shimmer of sparkle and Christmas magic into all our Christmasses."