Festive spirit spilled over at Tenby's De Valence with a delightful and imaginative seasonal show called Christmas in the Parlour.

We wondered what to expect, as the blurb ran... 'Snuggle up to the fireside, pass round the mince pies... knock, knock, who's there?'

And who should enter the cosy parlour? - an atmospheric little stage set - but Queen Victoria and Albert, Dylan Thomas, Mozart, Charles Dickens, Handel... and the Angel Gabriel in a pink tutu.

There are just two performers in the Opera Playhouse, Pippa Longworth and Neath-born Karl Daymond.

Both are well-known to the opera world, having appeared as principal soloists with the Royal Opera (Covent Garden) Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, The Halle, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Proms, the Paris Opera and with many other prestigious institutions in Europe and the USA.

For the De Valence Christmas show, Karl was a Victorian-style master of ceremonies, seamlessly weaving all the famous characters on the bill into a satisfying whole. This wasn't easy, as these historical giants spanned 18th, 19th and 20th centuries and were famous for very different talents.

There were hymns, poems, both comic and tragic, music hall songs, arias, Gilbert and Sullivan works, Dylan Thomas readings, sacred songs and some razzmatazz pantomime fun.

Reading out extracts from Queen Victoria's diary is something you might expect to be rather dry. But thanks to Pippa's keenly-observed delivery, it was highly entertaining.

When one sang the other accompanied on the piano or organ. Both slid from quiet dignity to knockabout comedy and back again with sharp timing and showbiz skill.

Very funny was a sketch of a nativity play at what appeared to be a seedy public school, featuring a dubious headmaster and a mouthy archangel in glittery tights and a tutu.

The variety was copious. There were two excerpts from Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales - one comic and one rather scary. Pippa treated us to a couple of songs in German, including Silent Night. Karl tickled us with a tongue-twisting song from Iolanthe.

This was no corny, sugary Christmas confection. It was festive jollity, and sometimes gravity, delivered by two performers who know a thing or two about entertainment.

A small audience (there was stiff competition from the Greenhill School Christmas concert and the town carol service) seemed entranced. As well they might have been. This reviewer can't wait to see them do it all again, hopefully next year.

Malcolm Stacey