THE BOX OF DELIGHTS
Christmas In July
WHAT THE MASEFIELD? THE BOX OF DELIGHTS IS NOW THE FESTIVE SOUNDTRACK TO SUMMER THANKS TO A NEW BIG FINISH ADAPTATION
WORDS: DARREN SCOTT
© BIG FINISH, GETTY
THE WOLVES, TRADITIONALLY, don’t run until December – or late November, if you’re a stickler for original transmission dates – but John Masefield’s festive tale The Box Of Delights has been opened a few months earlier this year as an ambitious new audio drama.
First published in 1935, The Box Of Delights is actually a sequel to the 1927 novel The Midnight Folk. Both feature schoolboy Kay Harker, who finds himself caught up in magical adventures. In The Box Of Delights, Kay is returning home for the Christmas holidays when he encounters an old Punch and Judy man named Cole Hawlings. He entrusts Kay with a magical box – that allows him to go small, swift and travel back in time – because “the wolves” are on his trail, intent on stealing his powers.
Box has become the more recognisable of the two stories, with adaptations over the decades including six different radio versions, an opera, a stage production and, most memorably, a six-part BBC television series in 1984. Now it’s the turn of audio drama producer Big Finish, with a mammoth five hour, star-studded version recorded – when else – at Christmas.
“This project is very, very special to me,” explains director Barnaby Edwards. “I really, really loved the book when I was a kid and I love the TV series. I have tried to assemble my favourite ever cast for it and I have achieved it.” The cast includes Mark Gatiss as Abner Brown, Sir Derek Jacobi as Cole Hawlings, Louise Jameson as Sylvia Daisy Pouncer, David Warner as Arnold of Todi and Annette Badland as the White Lady. Kay Harker is played by 13-year-old Mack Keith-Roach.