The Southwark Playhouse deserves a gold star for staging a newly written piece for the Christmas period, instead of just giving a tired old script its umpteenth December outing.
But playwright David Cregan, the pen behind many a pantomime at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, will have to work harder for his own gold star. His "Be careful what you wish for" morality tale is touching but far too slight to hold the attention of children of any age, let alone the under-10s.
And, bizarrely for a story of legendary creatures and dreams coming true, the youngest character on stage is a 21-year-old. The action in Jane Howell's production would flow more effortlessly if he were the nine-year-old for whom the play cries out.
The plot centres on the great desire of bank clerk George to be rich. Every morning at breakfast he sits awaiting the arrival of a cheque that will never come; he longs to spend his time holidaying in Spain, drinking copious amounts of sherry.
In desperation, his son Harry contacts the website unicornhelp@elysianfields.com and sets in motion a chain of events that ultimately sees Auntie Sharon's petunias trampled by a pantomime horse with a golden horn, mane, hooves and tail.
Brian Protheroe, recently of the RSC's Shakespeare season at the Roundhouse, does his best with the under-developed George. The clerk has some fine lines to deliver - it's not often that an actor is called upon to say, "There's a unicorn been growing in my jacket and it's eaten my sandwiches" - but it is hard to escape the feeling that his part, like The Difficult Unicorn as a whole, promises much more than it actually manages to deliver. Until 4 January. Box Office: 020 7620 3494.
The Difficult Unicorn
