A cozy, engaging and playful start to Christmas 

Christmas with Prøysen and Carpenter Andersen combines playful acting, impressive puppetry and audience involvement in an hour of Christmas joy that engages both children and "slightly older children".

With gingerbread, a choir of elves and a warm Christmas atmosphere even before the curtain goes up, Oslo Nye Teater offers a charming and imaginative staging of Alf Prøysen's Carpenter Andersen and Santa Claus with actors, puppets and puppeteers on stage. When I arrived at the theatre, there was a very cozy atmosphere: everyone was cheerful and there was a children's choir dressed as elves outside the theatre before we went inside, and everyone was given gingerbread both before and after the play. Very briefly, the plot of the performance is that Carpenter Andersen will be Santa Claus for his children. But on the way, he meets the real Santa Claus and they agree to trade places: Carpenter Andersen goes to Santa Claus's family and makes presents for them, while Santa Claus goes to Carpenter Andersen's children and gives them presents. 

Birgitte Victoria Svendsen's direction makes this a very playful portrayal of Alf Prøysen's story, with details I hadn't thought of. Among other things, Andersen is of course clumsy and forgetful, and that he adds depth with his descriptions when he talks to Santa Claus about his children. I think the actors in particular were very, very good! They were very alive with the children in the audience and aroused strong engagement in them – but also for me, who is a slightly older child. When the actors ask the children if there is something they have forgotten or where something is, the children point or shout to help, which the actors act on. 

Impressive puppeteers

Christine Lohre's scenography consists of beautiful backdrops, such as a carpenter's shop, a forest and the Santa's home. The same applies to Anna Granberg's puppet design - which consists of a large number of puppets. From what I understood, there were only 3 puppeteers; Sarah Christine Sandberg, Fabian Christensen and Suzanne Paalgard. Carpenter Andersen was played by Modou Bah and I shouldn't forget Santa Claus who was played by Knut Wiulsrød. The three puppeteers do an impressive amount considering the number of characters they dealt with, such as three Santa children, Santa Claus, old Santa Claus grandfather and lots of little mice. They have up to 5 puppets in the air at the same time, all of which move and talk. A few times they also sing, all with different voices.  

During the performance, the action unfolds on various small scenes. The beginning of the play takes place in carpenter Andersen's beautiful carpenter's shop. After that, he goes into a forest where little elves watch him, while the last scene is in the elves' little home under a tree. I think all three were very nice, they all had a homely atmosphere about them with lots of details. They clearly had the impression that they were specially made for this play.

An example of a scene that I think worked really well was when carpenter Andersen was in his carpenter's shop and a lot of mice came out and started singing the Mouse Song. It was a very cozy scene and they even had a potato for the grandmother mouse to sit on. On the other hand, there was a scene in the forest where all the Santa children were sitting on trees that didn't work as well because the dolls were a little wrong, so they were sitting on their own legs or just sitting as if they were flying in the air. It broke an otherwise very nice illusion that the dolls are real, which they worked very hard for and managed to achieve every time other than right then.

At the end of the performance, the entire ensemble came out from behind the curtains and sang a very nice Christmas carol. The use of singing created a good whole and good transitions throughout the performance and also the transitions before and after the performance. Christmas with Prøysen and carpenter Andersen is made with young children as a clear target group, but was perfectly fine and nostalgic for older children as well, as it had familiar songs and a story, and it succeeds in making everything so cozy. It is a performance that at least makes me reminisce by mixing in a lot from different Christmas carols and stories. What's more, it only lasts 1 hour – which is good for anyone with short patience. Suitable for both big and small children.