Director's Note: 

Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when every shuddered breath hangs frozen in the air, the icy queen of Walkley sat gazing forlornly through her rain-streaked window, searching for her mortal purpose. Suddenly, she spotted Buntz, the bespectacled boggart, prowling in the garden and nibbling at her cabbages.

"What are you doing, bumbling Buntz?" called the icy queen of Walkley, her lips pursed.

"O queenie, queenie, with your poseur's pout,

Through I am but fool, please here me out:

Two fairytales we should adapt,

With unbridled whimsy leave the public rapt."

The icy queen considered Buntz's rhyming proposition. It was something that she longed to do, but a reluctance creeped within: she knew too well that it would take the sweat and graft of many souls. Luckily, at that very moment, a bright-eyed wood nymph skipped into the garden, glue-gun clamped firmly between her teeth. It was Lotzel, their ever-competent puppeteering pal and confidante. "Get to work, you two!" she chirruped, throwing a hammer at Buntz's head.

The bleak wintery weeks passed, the authorial pair clickerclackering inexpertly at keys in an attempt to reawaken the tales of Grimm and Anderson. Soon, three joined this jolly brigade: the merry imp Lord Ailis brought her warmth and sunshine whilstthe smoky dragon-monk brought youthful ebullience and aplomb, under the watchful gaze of the wize old lizard, Chortel. And as the motley brigade marched on, a gaggle of gifted gremlins grouped behind: crafters, grafters, illuminators, prop-creators, melody-makers, gingerbread-bakers, storytellers, pitdwellers, pea-throwers and garment-sewers. Each one was committed to the noble cause: to show that fairytales aren't just to be sandwiched between a hot water bottle and a nocturnal forehead-kiss. Armed with naught but their endless imagination and unbridled whimsy, this hodgepodge of creative critters forged a folksy, darkly comic world brimming with enchantment and joy.

Snow fell, snow thawed, and their two stories grew and grew. The icy queen of Walkley and bespactacled Buntz saw the beauty their new friends had forged, and smiled, happy and contented. They hope you will do too.