Puss in Moon Boots by Sleeping Trees

When Covid stole Christmas 2020, the team at Sleeping Trees put together an online panto, dubbed a 'living room adventure' and delighted audiences with their streamed The Legend of Moby Dick Whittington [reviewed in D&T here]. This year, while the boys are performing in person at the Battersea Arts Centre with Sleeping Beauty and the Beast from 26 November to 30 December, you can also catch them in your own homes undertaking this year's 'living room adventure' – Puss in Moon Boots – and it's 52 minutes of pure joy.

As last year, the show is written by the Sleeping Trees (James Dunnell-Smith, John Woodburn, Joshua George Smith) with Ben Hales, and is directed by Kerry Frampton in a collaboration with Splendid Productions. 

When a mysterious ne'erdowell intercepts Santa's sleigh and carries all the presents off to the moon, Santa's cat finally gets to achieve his lifelong ambition of blasting into space in a rocket of his own design (thanks to his Masters degree in Engineering) to save Christmas. With a huge cast of fantastic characters including Hansel and Gretel, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Jack and Jill (and their parents) and many others – all played by the Sleeping Trees – this is an exceptionally well-produced, carefully constructed narrative with a great twist and lots of fun jokes for the adults as well as interaction for younger viewers.

All the panto tropes are present and correct, with participation heartily encouraged, and the show demonstrates beautifully what can be done to build worlds inside a child's own home and imagination.

The production is available to stream from 1 December and a £5 ticket will gain audiences access to watch again and again until 10 January. Go to www.thesleepingtrees.co.uk