Anyone approaching the festive season with trepidation may envy the Moomins who hibernate from October until spring. But in Tove Jansson’s 1962 short story The Fir Tree their slumber is disturbed by the Hemulen, furious to find them sleeping while everyone else is fretting about presents and decorations. The Moomins witness such panic that they assume Christmas is to be dreaded not celebrated and prepare for the worst. The moral for the lovably befuddled family of trolls – and any festive sceptics – is to keep a cool head amid the hysteria and spread warmth however you choose.
Adapted and directed by Kaveh Rahnama, the story is given a circus spin in this sweet production, which features Jansson’s Woodies – a gang of high-spirited elfin children. “They’re not Moomins,” grumbles a suspicious young theatregoer behind me, and Rahnama takes a risk by not introducing the more familiar characters for several minutes. Instead we get snowball juggling, human towers and jolly ukulele tunes. Complemented by Liam Quinn’s featherlight, folky compositions, Alison Alexander’s attractive rustic set retains an illustrative charm in its hand-drawn edges, provides a wintry backdrop to projected captions and has a house that glows within its walls of gauze. The smocks and culottes suit Jansson’s world, as do the straw-like tufts of hair peeking out from woolly hats.
The cranky Hemulen and the Moomin family are depicted with huge handheld masks whose cuddliness will appeal to the youngest audience members although it’s an effort to stretch the story across an hour. It’s delightful to see the Fillyjonk racing across the stage on rollerblades while carrying a tree but the circus business suits the cautious Moomins less well and they are sometimes awkwardly reduced to bystanders in their own story. The relationship between them and the Woodies is underexplored and the wry elegance of Jansson’s writing can get lost in the mix.
But there are plenty of comic treats as Moominmamma rustles up lifejackets and slingshots to survive the arrival of Christmas and Moominpapa procures a fir tree from a neighbour’s garden. The cast are genial company, capturing the spirit not just of Christmas but also of Moominvalley, making both seem much too fun to hibernate through.
• At Jacksons Lane, London, until 5 January
