Review of Mog's Christmas at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Back in 2022, the theatre group The Wardrobe Ensemble created a sweet and adventurous staging of Judith Kerr's classic children's character, Mog - The Forgetful Cat. For this Christmas season at Royal & Derngate, Mog returns with, suitably enough, Mog's Christmas. The show, just a crisp, action-packed hour, retells two past adventures alongside a Christmas vignette.

Kerr's Mog first appeared in 1970, and it launched a remarkable run of books over 50 years featuring the puzzled feline, culminating in the final book released in 2020, following Kerr's death at 95 in 2019. Kerr is most famous for one of her other tales, The Tiger Who Came to Tea. However, in Mog's Christmas, the show presents three entertaining little stories featuring her other, slightly lesser-known feline character.

Over the course of the hour, we see Mog successfully foil a burglar, survive a trip to the V.E.T., and then, in the brand-new stage story, a Christmas adventure where Mog gets confused by a mysterious moving tree.

It is all a delight, created for the stage by the endlessly talented team at The Wardrobe Ensemble. Their years working together continue to bring work that shines to the stage, and with Mog, showing that they can create a show aimed predominantly at children as well.

The show opens with a friendly postman on his round, delivering mail to a neighbourhood where, behind closed doors, lurk pets of every size, including behind one, that forgetful cat, Mog. Playing the postman and many other characters throughout is Tom England, who also forms the role of narrator for the adventures. His boundless enthusiasm shines throughout, and his physical ability makes all the people he portrays larger than life, in keeping with the broad nature of a children's show.

All of the cast work hard on this, with the prominent Thomas family played by Jesse Meadows as Nicky, Aimee Louise Bevan as Debbie, Heather Porte as Mrs Thomas, and Ben Vardy as Mr Thomas, bringing exaggerated personalities to the roles and making characters ideally suited to keeping the children's attention.

Bringing music and a few incidental characters to the stage is also the talented Daniella Agredo Piper, often behind the keys, but occasionally also upon the stage proper with a few quirky characters.

Finally, we have, of course, Mog, brought to the stage, not by puppetry, but by the heavily costumed Faye Lord, and she is a delight, perfecting all those knowing mannerisms and behaviours well known to any cat owner. It's a challenge for any actor to portray a character purely through facial, physical and a range of meows, but Lord is great at it.

The set and costume work by Laura McEwen is fabulous and dynamic, allowing for subtle expansions throughout as the tales are told. Alongside the stories are numerous musical numbers written by Joey Hickman, and these perfectly suit the stories and are fabulously catchy as well.

Mog's Christmas is a delight and captivates its target audience, keeping them enthralled throughout the show. If you did happen to see the show's original run, only one sequence is totally new; however, the Christmas sequence is an uplifting delight in itself, and the whole hour sets the scene perfectly for the Christmas season ahead.

A fabulous, magical and funny hour of theatre.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Performance reviewed: Wednesday, 10th December 2025, at the Royal & Derngate, Northampton.

Mog's Christmas is at Royal & Derngate until Wednesday, 31st December 2025.

For further details about the Royal & Derngate and to book tickets, see their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk

Production photos: Manuel Harlan

Review of Lord of the Dance at Milton Keynes Theatre

On what was so far the hottest day of the year, and the highest in many a record book, it feels a tad evil to watch as a group of extremely talented performers bring to the stage one of the most famous and most energetic dance shows to tour. However, arriving now at Milton Keynes Theatre, as part of what is now the still rather immodestly titled 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour, Lord of the Dance remains full of energy even on the hottest of evenings in Milton Keynes. I last and first saw Lord of the Dance as part of the 25 Years of Standing Ovations tour, four years ago (yes, the sums don’t quite work), and it was every bit as spectacular as you could imagine this world-famous dance show is. Born into the world from Michael Flatley and the Riverdance spectacular that preceded it, Lord of the Dance is a simple but effective battle between good and evil and the resolution of it through dance rather than fighting. The dancing here is, as expected, exceptional, led by the Lord of the...

Review of making second Kontakt with the R&D Youth Theatre at Royal & Derngate (Underground), Northampton

As I said in my first Kontakt review, I wasn't really sure that I wanted to see this show. However come Sunday and a second opportunity to see it, I was genuinely looking forward to it. With the show now having departed, for my second review I will elaborate a touch more on happenings, which initially I shied away from as spoilers. My actor for my second encounter was 15 year old Michael. He had the enviable task unlike Michael before him of dealing with someone who knew quite a bit of what was coming. As those surgical gloves went on I this time was certain that the R&D were not going to overstep the boundary and do a full medical. I had also learnt that a crisp sandwich was something that should be left in the memory, so cheese was a much more sensible option. I was able to complete the calculation generally unaided and managed to express an exaggerated shock at the latter outcome. The game of Jenga managed to stay stable once again and rather amazingly managed to bring t...

Review of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Birmingham Rep

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street first appeared in this musical form in 1979. Adapted from an original play by Christopher Bond, the work was set to music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, with a book by Hugh Wheeler. It quickly became a huge success, opening on both Broadway and the West End within a year. Following Tony and Olivier wins, the show has seen revival after revival over the years, as well as a musical film starring Johnny Depp. Now, Birmingham Rep presents its own pared-back version of the show, featuring some big stars of the theatre world. So, the question is, is Sweeney Todd as razor-sharp as it once was? What is clear to all at the outset is that director Joe Murphy, also artistic director at Birmingham Rep, has assembled a remarkable and bold cast for the show. Leading as Sweeney is Ramin Karimloo, whose bio speaks for itself and is the biggest draw for this show, especially for theatres outside London. His Sweeney is a perfectly brooding affair, broken...

A Small Mind At The Theatre

Search This Blog