This Christmas, the familiar venue of the Tobacco Factory Theatre has been transported into the deepest, darkest heart of Persia. Beautiful red and gold drapes delicately hang from the ceiling alongside stunning Moroccan lanterns, windows have been stain-glassed and forty colourful masks of the show’s thieves (made by local schools) line the walls. It’s a stunning transformation, typical of the sort of magic Travelling Light bring with them and it serves as a refreshing change from the same, tired old sickeningly Christmasy decorations that everywhere else adopts this time of year.

Local theatre company Travelling Light have a superb reputation, their previous family shows like Clown, Papa Please Get The Moon For Me and The Ugly Duckling living long in the memory of everyone who saw them, and their sparkle has been brought to the Tobacco Factory this Christmas with a brand new re-telling of Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves: Two brothers live in Persia; the honest Ali Baba and the greedy Kasim. The brothers are like chalk and cheese, but after they unwittingly find a magic cave where a gang of violent outlaws have been hiding their loot, the forty thieves will not rest until Ali and Kasim are dead.

The show itself is good fun if not quite up to Travelling Light’s usual, magical standards – the broad pitch of the humour sadly watering down the show’s charm – but Ali Baba is worth a watch simply to see the brilliant leader of the forty thieves. Anyone who witnessed the towering Felix Hayes’ Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol last year will still feel the vibrations in their bowels from his unfathomably deep and powerful voice. Here he is in his element as the villain and Hayes torturing one of his number for failing him (pulling the arms off an Action Man) is the best comedy performance you will see this Christmas.

www.tobaccofactorytheatre.com