Review Of Dear Santa Live At The Minerva Theatre, Chichester Review

Reviewed by Emma Booth

Me and my little boy who is five have just been to see Dear Santa live at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester.  This lovely little show is based on the children’s book Dear Santa and tells the story of a thoughtful little girl who decides that what she really wants for Christmas is for Santa to give her presents to other girls and boys who won’t be receiving any presents this Christmas.  After reading her letter to him Santa decides that she deserves a really thoughtful gift so along with one of Santa‘s elves they think long and hard for the perfect gift for her.

This show really is a special treat for kids aimed at ages up to about seven ,the theatre it’s very small which gave an intimate inclusive feel and meant regardless of your seats everyone got a good view of the stage and felt included in the show.

The show was about 50 minutes long with no interval and I think this was a perfect amount of time to keep the Little ones attention.  I think what was brilliant was the interaction from the three actors on stage.  There was so many opportunities for kids and the adults to sing clap shout and cheer and you could tell by all the laughs and enthusiastic singing that the kids were thoroughly enjoying themselves.  What I didn’t realise was that they had their play cafe open before the show.  From what I can gather the play cafe is available before selected family shows and consists of loads of arts and crafts, toys to play with books to read all for free for everyone.  I was very impressed with the quality of craft available and thought this was a brilliant idea and not something I’ve seen anywhere else.

After the show every child gets to queue up to see Santa and receive a gift which is included in the ticket price.  If you don’t have the time and need to shoot off you can get your present from a member of staff.  They had a good variety of snacks to buy but I was a little shocked when a juice drink and packet of crisps came to £4 but other than that prices seem very reasonable.  Ticket prices were £16 each and I thought it was well worth it.  We went to the 4 pm showing and loved that when we left all the lights outside looked amazing in the dark and left me feeling all Christmassy.  There was a car park about a minutes walk away with plenty of parking.  I thought it was a real sweet and heartfelt performance and would highly recommend it to anyone with little ones.  There are lots of other family shows coming up along with some free family events so it’s definitely worth having a look to see what else is coming up soon.  There were lovely staff and it’s a lovely theatre.  I will definitely be back soon I’m sure.

Rating: 5/5

Tickets £16

Dear Santa Live
Minerva theatre Chichester

For more information or to book tickets please visit Dear Santa Live | Chichester Festival Theatre (cft.org.uk),
For more information about where the show is on, please visit DEAR SANTA LIVE – Norwell Lapley Productions Ltd (nlp-ltd.com).