The Grotto. Photo: Cam Harle

A youngish couple are wearily running Santa’s Grotto, although they’ve actually been separated for some months. Pete (Toby Hampton)  smiles and ho-hos falsely while Leyla (Laurel Marks) as his elf mimes bringing in child after child. Then, at the end of their monotonous shift we see them as themselves: sparring. They are dispirited (literally as it turns out)  but clearly yearning in their different ways – her exasperation and his relentless jokiness – to get back together.

Hampton’s play is surreal. With a sideways nod at A Christmas Carol a supernatural force arrives in the form of puppet Christmas fairy/angel (voiced by Bryan Pilkington) whose stated aim is to help them recover their Christmas spirit.  The challenges he sets are macabre, peculiar and often very funny. There are plenty of unexpected twists so no spoilers.

In general I found the whole concept slightly too wacky and without much dynamic contrast. And although it’s a short one act play running 70 minutes it’s actually ten minutes too long. But it was a preview  performance I saw so there is time for the production to settle.

I saw Laurel Marks on stage twice earlier this year in two very different roles. Her performance as Leyla confirms me in my view that she is an exceptionally talented actor. She has a very expressive face which she uses with a great deal of evocative nuance and she does wonderful things with breathing to connote anger, stress, fear – or a physical condition which makes Leyla sneeze a lot.

She and Hampton repeatedly declare themselves a team as their characters in this play. They are evidently a strong team as actors in real life too because they bounce off each other well with a lot of high octane listening as well as action.

Director, Matthew Parker, makes imaginative use of the small playing space at Drayton Arms Theatre (my first visit there, incidentally) and it’s a busy production with lots of props so well done stage manager, Summer Keating too.

While it isn’t the best thing I’ve seen this Christmas season The Grotto is commendably original and  certainly a refreshing antidote to all the predictable stuff one sees at this time of year.

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  Photos: The Grotto. All photos: Cam Harle

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First published by Sardines: https://www.sardinesmagazine.co.uk/review/the-grotto/