The show was the fruits of a partnership between newly-formed theatre company the Berwick Broadcasting Company and London-based the Fitzrovia Radio Hour and I went along on its opening night to see if all their hard work had paid off.

Introducing proceedings as the resident DJ was Maltings chief xxecutive Miles Gregory and he had the audience anticipating what was to come as we were told we'd be party to 'A Life Less Awful', 'The Woman Who Didn't Prepare' and 'The Romance of Helen Simms'.

The production's title gave an impression that the tales weren't going to be filled full of Christmas cheer, more the darker side of yuletide.
And the first tale summed this up perfectly. 'A Life Less Awful' introduced us to Gerald, a man who was contemplating throwing himself off Berwick Bridge, after growing tired of his miserable existence.

Nagged by his wife Margaret, played brilliantly by Anna Emmins and looked down on by his children Jemima (Lydia Lee) and Rupert (Tamsin Davison), Gerald was looking for a way out, but just as he was about to jump there was an intervention from a woman who introduced herself as Clarissa.

She claimed to be his guardian angel and invited to take Gerald on a tour of what life would be like if he wasn't there.

Clarissa had a hidden agenda though and after becoming a less friendly version of the ghost of Christmas Present and showing Gerald that his family didn't miss him at all, she made Bill feel worse.

And then she revealed she wasn't in fact a heavenly angel, but worked for the dark side and needed Gerald to end his own life to secure a promotion in hell.

She got her happy ending too, and voicing the role, Maltings marketing manager Tamiko Mackie, got the unsympathetic sarcasm and evil laughter right down to a tee.

And Frasier Wood really captured the low self-esteem and turmoil of Gerald, a role which was undoubtedly a difficult one to play.
There were also a less than favourable outcome for Hilda Gray, 'The Woman Who Didn't Prepare'.

Switching from spoilt schoolboy to housewife, Tamsin Davison played under pressure Hilda, who was tasked with coming up with the perfect Christmas dinner to persuade her husband's boss to give him a promotion.

But she took it a little too easy and ended up sickening him with vinegar-like wine and tasteless turkey. Tamsin got the Queen's English accent just right and her warning to the women of the audience to be well prepared in the kitchen was very much in keeping with the 1940s theme.

Cut-glass accents were also the order of the day for the third and final tale, 'The Romance of Helen Simms'.

Anna Emmins went from moaning housewife to vulnberable secretary Helen who was in love with Bridge Street property lawyer Dirk Landless, but also had a soft spot for her boss, Berwick businessman Roger Hunter.
He took full advantage of this though and was determined not to let Dirk get one over on him and take Helen for lunch at Berlinos.

Playing the warring lotharios, Frasier Wood and Ross Graham were fantastic, and like all other members of the cast, never once slipped out of their accents.

Special mention to Lydia Lee for the Yorkshire accent she adopted to play Peggy, Roger's PA and Liz Anderson who rolled her vowels perfectly as Eve Chalice.

And as naive and unlucky in love Helen, Anna proved what a versatile performer she is, having taken on all sorts of roles this year alone from showgirl to northern housewife.

Aside from the acting, one of the show's other successes was the use of live sound effects such as the opening and shutting of an umbrella to signify the flapping of the dark angel's wings or the shutting of a box when someone closed a door, right through to Frasier Wood and Justin Gudgeon gulping glasses of water when their characters were meant to be drowning.

'Cautionary Christmas Tales' was a lot different to the usual festive fayre you can expect at this time of year but it was original, inventive, humorous and thoroughly entertaining.

SIMON DUKE