Inside Who-ville: how Leeds Playhouse is building The Grinch from scratch

Leeds Playhouse is making a brand-new UK production of Dr Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, with every set and costume built in house. We went behind the scenes with the people making it.

Every Christmas show at Leeds Playhouse is a big one. This year’s might be the biggest yet.

Dr Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical opens in the Quarry theatre on 19 November and runs until 16 January 2027. It is a new UK production of the show that has toured America for years. It is also the first Christmas show directed by the Playhouse’s Artistic Director, Tom Wright, in his first season in the role.

“It’s a real privilege to get to direct the Christmas show in my first season,” says Wright. “I knew I always wanted to do it.”

For Wright, the story is about more than a green grump with a grudge. “There’s this community that is treated badly by this person who feels left out, but still that community chooses to open their hearts to him.”

A first trip to the theatre

The Christmas show plays a particular role in the Playhouse year. “For some, it’s something that they save up for all year and it’s an annual tradition,” Wright says. “For others, and for lots, it’s their first entry to theatre… we want to show them how exciting theatre can be, so they hopefully fall in love with it for life.”

That meant finding something audiences hadn’t seen before. “It’s the first brand-new production that’s being made of that original material,” he says. “We’re building it here in Leeds for a British audience.”

Who-ville in a snow globe

The look of the show belongs to set and costume designer Simon Higlett. His credits include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. “It’s a completely invented, designed world,” he says. “It’s a complete designer’s dream.”

Wright wanted to go back to the original book and its black, white and red drawings. Higlett started by asking one question of Wright and the American producers. “What is a Grinch? Where did he come from? Is he a Yeti? Is he a Bigfoot? I’m still not sure if I know what he is. But he’s a big green thing who hates Christmas, which is all you need to know.”

Higlett builds a scale model of the theatre and sketches the world in white card first. “Then I slowly, over meetings, colour it in.” Those models become the drawings the Playhouse workshops build from.

The answer to “where is Who-ville?” turned out to be inside a snow globe. The stage revolves around a towering Mount Crumpit. Who-ville’s houses and shops are on one side. Turn the mountain and you’re in the Grinch’s cave.

“Some people may have read the book and there are some amazing illustrations in there,” says Wright. “Of course, it’s one thing to draw a sleigh almost falling off a mountain. It’s another to make it on stage. But that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Pointy shoulders and bright fabrics

Rachael Griffin, assistant designer and costume supervisor, turns Higlett’s drawings into fabrics, textures and finished costumes. “It’s hard to appreciate when you’re sitting in an audience exactly how much hard work does go into the whole process,” she says.

The Whos are meant to look cartoonish, and that is harder to make than it looks. “It looks so simple: they’ve got a little bit of a pointy shoulder or a little bit of a pointy peplum. And you think, well, how are we going to do that?”

The wardrobe team is enjoying the colour. “One of the comments from the workroom is how wonderful it is this Christmas to be working with such bright fabrics. It’s not all greys and blacks.”

Made in Leeds, by Leeds

The Playhouse is one of the few theatres left that builds everything on site, from sets to costumes. “To have it all under one roof is such an incredible facility,” says Higlett. “Nothing is too much trouble, even though we’ve got some bonkers things in it. That’s very rare now, and you’re so lucky to have it.”

Much of the company is local too. Several adult cast members are from Yorkshire, and one is making his professional debut close to home. The choreographer, Tinovimbanashe Sibanda, grew up in Leeds. “She saw the Christmas shows when she was a child and now she’s choreographing the show,” says Wright. “Her choreography is just fantastic.”

West End star Joel Montague plays the Grinch. He is joined by an adult cast of Whos and a young company of local children.

Watch the full behind-the-scenes film above.

The details
Dr Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical runs from 19 November 2026 to 16 January 2027 in the Quarry at Leeds Playhouse.

• Running time: 90 minutes
• Age guidance: 4+
• Tickets: £17 to £71.50, plus a £2.95 transaction fee
• Book at leedsplayhouse.org.uk or on 0113 213 7700