Emma Boor encourages little ones to check out Supermarket Scrooge this Christmas at JdP Music Building from tomorrow

What would Charles Dickens make of my puppet pantomime this year, I wonder? I’ve always felt a strong affinity with his classic tale of visiting ghosts that offer Ebenezer Scrooge a second chance at happiness, and celebrate the warm humanity underlying our traditional Christmas celebrations.

Dickens was unique in the way that he found the extraordinary in the ordinary, and setting his timeless classic amongst a host of supermarket trolleys and special offers has provided me with a whole world of comedy and characters!

My puppet theatre company, Wild Boor Ideas, aims to spread as much joy as possible and, through taking a quirky look at things we take for granted in modern life, make the ordinary seem extraordinary too.

This year’s characters are certainly that. Two sisters, checkout girl Emily Scratchit and her nasty boss Wilhelmina Scrooge (who changed her name when she married into the firm!) both work for ‘Scroogeways’ Supermarket. Wilhelmina is as mean as they come, paying only paltry wages. Things come to a head when on a whim she suddenly sacks all the staff on Christmas Eve, only to replace them with self-service tills!

The ‘Marley’ role in my story is played by one such machine called ‘The Tillatron 3000’. So often the cause of much frustration during the real shopping experience, what better character could there be to warn Wilhelmina to take a fresh look at her life – and sort out the unidentified objects in her bagging area? Wilhelmina is saved in the end by ‘Tiny Ted’ the carrier bag dog – for, as you well know, a carrier bag dog is for life, not just for Christmas!

Sprinkled with other comedy characters along the way, with festive Christmas trees and Christmas puddings which sing Hannah Rhodes’ uplifting and catchy songs, I would like to think Charles Dickens would enjoy our puppet panto.

Yet our stories carry the same messages: take a moment to value simplicity; be grateful for what you have; say no to greed; and honour Christmas in your heart. You would be off your trolley to miss it!

Supermarket Scrooge is for under 8s. JdP Music Building, from tomorrow until Tuesday, December 22. 01865 812150.