EMMA RICE COMPANY ANNOUNCES FULL CAST FOR BRAND-NEW ADAPTATION OF DYLAN THOMAS’ A CHIL

The Emma Rice Company today announces the full cast for the world premiere Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales, adapted and directed by Emma Rice, with music by Ian Ross. Rice directs Tom Fox, Simon Oskarsson, Katy Owen and Robyn Sinclair in this brand-new production. A Child’s Christmas in Wales will open at the company’s home venue The Lucky Chance in Frome, on 27 November 2025, with previews from the 25 November, and runs until 21 December.

When did Christmas become so hectic? Have you ever craved a break from the bright colours, bustling shops and music so loud you fear your ears will ring for days?   A Child’s Christmas in Wales is the perfect antidote to festive madness, taking young and old to a magical place of wit, warmth and wonder. In this new stage adaptation, Dylan Thomas’ beloved poem is woven into a beautiful hour of heart-melting music, puppetry, candles, shadows and rare imagination.  Emma Rice is the Artistic Director of Emma Rice Company and is an internationally respected theatre-maker and director. For Emma Rice Company she has adapted and directed North by Northwest, The Buddha of Suburbia, Blue Beard, The Little Match Girl and Happier Tales, Wuthering Heights, Bagdad Café, Angela Carter’s Wise Children, Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers and Romantics Anonymous. As Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe: Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Little Matchgirl (and Other Happier Tales). Rice worked for Kneehigh as an actor, director and Artistic Director, creating critically acclaimed productions including: The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes, Cymbeline (in association with RSC), A Matter of Life and Death (in association with National Theatre), Brief Encounter (in association with David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Productions), Don John (in association with the RSC and Bristol Old Vic), Wah! Wah! Girls (in association with Sadler’s Wells and Theatre Royal Stratford East for World Stages), and Steptoe and Son. She received the Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre award at the 2019 UK Theatre Awards, and Best Direction at the 2025 WhatsOnStage awards. Ian Ross is a Bristol based multi-instrumentalist and Composer and leads the band Eleven Magpies.Previous work with Emma Rice Company as Composer includes The Little Match Girl and Happier Tales (The Lucky Chance), Wuthering Heights (UK, US tour, The Holland Festival, Australia and Aisa tour), Bagdad Café (Old Vic), Malory Towers (UK tour) and Wise Children (UK tour). Other theatre credits include: Brief Encounter, The Red Shoes, Don John, The Wild Bride, Tristan and Yseult, Dead Dog in a Suitcase, The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (Kneehigh); Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Cat and the Canary (Told by an Idiot and Chichester Festival Theatre) and The Winter's Tale (Tobacco Factory Theatres). As Music Director, his credits include Girl from the North Country (Toronto 2019, Runway) and London Tide (National Theatre).
Tox Fox returns to the company – he previously appeared Wuthering Heights (Australia and Asia Tour), The Little Match Girl and Happier Tales (The Lucky Chance). Other theatre credits includeJourney to the Centre of the Earth, Frankenstein (On a Budget) and War of the Worlds (On a Budget) (UK Tour). As a director, his credits include Waste Busters (Lyric Theatre Belfast), Ungentlemanly Combat (National Theatre Studio),Generation Zero (Theatre503/Edinburgh Festival), Remote, Ailie and the Alien (National Theatre), Who Gives A Toss?, The Pet Shop (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh), There Be Giants (Eastern Angles), Treasure Island, Alice in Winterland, Robin Hood, Suitcase Shakespeare and Peter Pan (UK tour, Lamphouse Theatre). Katy Owen returns to the company - she previously appeared in North By Northwest, Blue Beard, Wise Children (UK tour), The Little Match Girl and Happier Tales (The Lucky Chance), Wuthering Heights (UK, US tour and The Holland Festival). Other theatre credits include David Copperfield (Riverside Theatre), UBU karaoke!, Rebecca (Kneehigh), The Little Matchgirl and Other Happier Tales (UK tour), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe), 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tipps (Kneehigh and Shakespeare’s Globe / UK and US tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe), The World of Work, The Night Before Christmas (Chapter Arts Centre), Apparitions of Spirits with the Forsythe Sisters (Gaggle Babble), Maudie’s Rooms (Sherman Theatre), The Little Matchgirl (Theatr Iolo) and Plum – And Me, Will, Cinders (Sherman Cymru.) Her television credits include The Story of Tracey Beaker; and for filmCyrano, Daddy’s Girl. Simon Oskarsson returns to the company – he previously appeared North By Northwest (UK tour). His other theatre credits include: Hadestown (Royal Theatre Carré/ Lyric Theatre), The Book Thief (Curve Leicester), Robin Hood, The Ledged, Re-written: 101 Dalmatians & A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Assassins(Watermill Theatre), Kiss Me Kate (Sheffield Crucible), To Paint the Earth (Southwark Playhouse), Return To The Forbidden Planet(Upstairs at the Gatehouse). Screen credits include:So Awkward, Unity of Opposites, 03:03.Robyn Sinclair returns to the company – Wuthering Heights (Australia and Asia tour), The Little Match Girl and Happier Tales (The Lucky Chance) Blue Beard (UK tour). Her other theatre credits include The Grapes of Wrath (National Theatre), The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (Watermill Theatre), Wildfire Road (Sheffield Theatres); The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe (Gillian Lynne Theatre, UK tour); Amélie (Criterion Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream/Macbeth (The Watermill Theatre), The Wind in The Willows (New Vic Theatre); Mood Music (Old Vic) and The Snow Queen (Theatr Clwyd). Her film credits include Fledgling, Not Knowing Needing.