‘The Box of Delights’ is a tale of magic and Christmas, full of wonder and spectacle, as a young boy is entrusted with an enchanted box and finds himself caught up in a battle between two wizards for the power to change the world for good or evil.
On his way home by train from boarding school in December 1935, Kay Harker is befriended by a dog and his master, a travelling storyteller. They mysteriously vanish when two suspicious men start to search the train, only to reappear at the station when Kay disembarks. Kay goes home with his guardian, Claire Louise, and meets up with his friends Peter and Maria who will unexpectedly be staying for Christmas as their parents have had to leave the country urgently on government business. Claire Louise asks Kay to invite the storyteller back to the house to entertain the children, and he goes off to find him, but when he does, Cole Hawlings, the storyteller, conjures up a magical phoenix bird, using the powers of a box he is carrying. Kay is amazed. Hawlings comes to the house and tells the children the story of a challenge that took place centuries ago between the two foremost magicians of the age. One invents a potion of immortality, the other a box that can do anything the holder desires. When the two suspicious men break into the house, Hawlings makes his escape, but not before passing the box to Kay. Soon after, Hawlings is captured by the forces of the man called Abner Brown. Now it is down to Kay, Peter and Maria to stop the box falling into the hands of Abner Brown, or Christmas and all it stands for will be destroyed…
‘Box of Delights’, adapted by Piers Torday from the book by John Masefield, will be the Winter/Christmas production for Theatre Workshop Coulsdon in 2026. Readthroughs and auditions will take place in late August/early September. It is expected that outside of the principal characters, an ensemble of actors will sing carols and help bring about the grand visual spectacles the show needs.
