This comedy, written collaboratively and produced by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, is a piece of Christmassy silliness that will certainly be a sweet treat for the little ones.
Meet Simon (Tom England) a normal little boy. It’s Christmas, and Simon can’t find his magical Christmas socks. Without them, Santa won’t be able to fly, and Christmas is lost! Helped by his fairy friends (Victoria Chen, Lauren Grace and Katharine O’Donnelly), Simon must travel to the country of Sockland, ruled by Queen Socktopus (Grace), who collects socks to wear them on each of her many hands.
Simon’s Magical Christmas Socks makes the most of its central item. Looking for the socks, Simon smells with all his might, but all he finds is an old shoe and old knickers. ‘The Ghost of Lost Socks’ makes an appearance on stage to help out our hero in his quest. The Queen’s ‘Spiderman’ socks allow Simon to climb a tower. Seated at the back of the room, with all the other grown-ups, I can see the children cheering and laughing, at they jump on stage to shake sleepy Simon, or shout ‘Look out’ when Queen Socktopus is coming behind him. The fairies form an energetic trio, and we even get a sock-themed Shakespeare joke, three words I never would have thought to see in the same sentence.
The production keeps a light-hearted tone throughout, which is good to see at this time of the year, even though I wonder if children’s theatre needs to be quite so childish to please a young audience. When Simon is scared, he starts farting uncontrollably. As he comes up with an idea, a light bulb appears above his head. This last trick would have been even more efficient if his face had been lit up too.
One problem remains: I’m afraid I could not see Simon as the child he was supposed to be for one moment. He was clearly a big hit with the little ones, however, and it’s all that matters. Parents, you should take your young children (aged 2 – 6) to see this show, but for the older ones, I think Glasgow has plenty more to offer at the moment.