Winter Tales

“Pagans reckon that if you look long enough into a fire it shows you something...”

Winter is coming. Box of Tricks returns to The Arden with Winter Tales: an anthology of six brand new plays with a seasonal twist specially commissioned for the third-year actors.

Join us this winter for a yuletide feast of theatrical treats. Expect the unexpected: a Winter Solstice celebration, Arctic scientists, an am-dram nativity, a heartbreak hotel, an office Christmas party and elves unionising against Santa.

This season, Winter Tales will enchant and beguile, offering a light in the dark as the nights draw in.

Angel by Testament

One rainy December at the offices of Injury Claim Kings Ltd the day is coming to a close and the Christmas party is almost here. A new recruit arrives for training. A boss wants quiet word. An assistant manager puts on make up in the toilets. The truth will come out. An angel is lost.

nAItivity by Mitesh Soni

Duckinfield Amateur Dramatic Society have decided to put on their first ever Nativity. But it's been written by the local AI, ChavCBD..... Cue a series of mishaps, misinformation, and mistakes before Jesus loses his shi......t.

Saving Ron Perlman by Billie Collins

An Arctic Research Station, the worryingly-near-future. Martha is waiting for the last pair of polar bears on earth to mate - but her girlfriend Nic thinks their relationship is the one that needs saving.

Twelf Night by Marcy Rick

'Twas the Twelf Night before Christmas, but all was not well in Santa's Workshop Incorporated. Little Elf has arrived in search of a better life, only everybody is obsessed with which elves are welcome in which toilet cubicles. So much so that they've neglected their diminishing workers' rights. Can this little elf save the biggest holiday in the capitalist calendar?

3:27 by Patrick Hughes

For the last five years Skye and Jack have celebrated winter solstice together. However, this year is different: Skye’s divorced parents are staying at the house because, in the morning, Skye will be sentenced in court for damaging a painting as an act of climate protest.

we free things by Daneka Etchells

A budget hotel. A shitty, nowhere northern town. Three women spend Christmas Day on their own for the first, and last, time. Alone together, Satya, Briony and Nicole face the ghosts of Christmas present, finding peace in unexpected places.