Sleeping Trees are “comthreedians” Joshua George Smith, John Woodburn and James Dunnell-Smith. Known for their surreal, physical and fast-paced comedy, the guys’ 2016 pantomime, Scrooge and the Seven Dwarves, is currently going down a storm with audiences of all ages at Battersea’s Theatre503 (check out my rave review to find out more).

“This show does to Scrooge what Pop Stars: The Rivals did to Nadine Coyle,” is the Sleeping Trees’ concise and typically unpredictable summary of their panto. After the Wicked Witch steals all the Christmas spirit, Santa’s forced to turn to an unlikely hero, Ebenezer Scrooge, to save the day. Needless to say, he doesn’t exactly co-operate willingly… can an unexpected journey to Fairytale Land change his mind?

The show is a unique and hilarious mashup of several classic stories – so where did the idea come from? The guys explain: “We’ve always enjoyed playing with well-known pieces of literature. We’d wanted to adapt Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for ages, and when the opportunity came along to write another Christmas show we thought there’s no time like the [insert joke about ghost of Christmas Past] present [insert joke about Christmas future].

“It began with just a title that we thought sounded funny, and then we ran with it. Once we had a rough script – which was about 150 pages too long – we started the editing process. We have an absolutely brilliant team that helped us get it to the show it is today. Ben Hales came in first with the music and composition of all the songs and lyrics etc. Then the excellent director, Simon Evans, came on board as we continuously read from start to finish, cutting, changing and shaping as we went. All the while our costume and set designer Zahra Mansouri would be a fly on the wall and each day come in with ideas and examples that were simply mind blowing. Finally our stage, lighting and production management team brought it all to life.”

All the characters in the story are played by Josh, John and James, which unsurprisingly makes for a fast-paced and fairly chaotic two hours. “We have 18 ‘main characters’ that we visit throughout the show, plus an array – or rather an onslaught – of about 30 other pantomime and fairytale characters that make an appearance for one-off jokes or theatrical devices. It’s a lot of fun playing all of them. Tiny Tim probably wins the Sleeping Trees’ favourite – either him or a prehistoric cameo… no spoilers!”

Let’s not forget that this is a pantomime, so audiences should be prepared to get involved in all the usual – and some not so usual – ways, much to Sleeping Trees’ glee. “Oh yes, we are thrilled with the participation we’ve created for this show. It will certainly be a unique experience for every audience member coming to see it. Nothing too stressful – just a lot, a lot of fun. After all, pantomimes remind everyone it’s Christmas, and who doesn’t like Christmas? Apart from Ebenezer, but trust us, we’re working on it!”

Sleeping Trees have now been together for seven years, and are looking forward to a bright (and busy) future. “We’ve been together since 2009, making theatrical comedy shows whilst collaborating with artists, comedians and musicians, and now have nine full length productions that we tour. It started once we got a taste of the Edinburgh fringe and have been a growing brand ever since. 

“The company aims to continue making comedy for stage and hopes to adapt our comedy for radio and television. We’re looking to begin touring internationally from 2017 onwards, with our latest trilogy of live action movies, Mafia? Western? and Sci-Fi? as well as writing a brand new Edinburgh Fringe show. We’re going to go back to our roots and write a stripped back show with just the three of us on stage. So the future is exciting for the entire team, and it will be our biggest tour to date, so we hope you can all come along and experience the journey with us. Merry Christmas folks.”

Scrooge and the Seven Dwarves is at Theatre503 until 7th January.