‘My brief was to create a family show for Christmas but definitely not a pantomime,” explains Lizzie Hopley, writer of this year’s Creation Theatre Christmas show, Aladdin and the Magical Lamp. “So I read as many versions of the story as I could. The two things I wanted to stay away from were the Wishy-Washy laundry, and the indelible memory of Robin Williams voicing the Genie in the film. Fabulous though those are, I felt I needed to go in a different direction.

“I was particularly attracted by the character of the Sorcerer – everyone loves a baddie, but this particular baddie pretends to be part of the family, and leads them astray. So instantly there was this whole darker world to plunge myself into. But also we have to love Aladdin – rogue as he is, he has to make us laugh.”

Playing that “rogue” is James Yeoburn, and we meet up at Creation’s rehearsal venue – a cosy converted barn in Yarnton, kindly provided by a well-wisher to help the company while it remains on a financial knife-edge. Aladdin has his problems too, James tells me during a rehearsal break.

“Aladdin worries he’ll never be the man his father dreamt he would be. His father hopes to open a tailoring empire in China. He’s got delusions of what would make him happy, while Aladdin is just a normal boy – but he’s away from home, and living in the gutter, in an absolute slum. So there’s animosity between him and his father.

“It reminds me very much of my relationship with my father!” James laughs. “I’m sure I was a real brat. I left home when I was 17, and sort of sprung the fact that I wanted to go on the stage on my parents. They were both very supportive though.”

Meanwhile beautiful Princess Badr-al-Budr looks down on the scene from a castle, where she is imprisoned. “She has an interesting relationship with her parents as well,” says Isla Carter, who is playing the role. “As in so many fairy tales, she has an absent mother, and her father locks her in a tower for her own protection. She’s a bit of a Rapunzel figure in a way, and, of course, just like any teenager, that brings rebellion. She wants to escape from her tower and see the world – she wants to enjoy the dust and dirt of the street. “But that’s exactly what her father can’t handle, he’s wrapped her in cotton wool. Children rebel when they’re told they can’t do things – ‘don’t eat those sweets’ means ‘I want the sweets.’”

So how is she going to escape?

“It’s actually written in the story, how she does it. But she’ll be in disguise, and she’s quick-witted enough to pull the wool over the eyes of the castle servants. Also, I don’t think her father expects her to feel that she wants to escape from the lavishness of the castle, or to mix with common folk. But she’s fiercely independent, and Lizzie Hopley has written her as a most feisty female. She’s great to play – I’m determined to have her doing cartwheels because she’s quite physical, I think.”

Of course, Aladdin and the Princess fall in love. How slushy-romantic is that going to be? “There’s a lovely slushy-romantic song,” James reveals. “But it isn’t just Aladdin falling in love with the princess, it’s also his hope for moving his own life forward as well.”

“I think Lizzie has written us as two teenagers,” Isla adds. “They have a will-they-won’t-they moment when you think they’re going to come together, and then they go: ‘Ugh, I wasn’t going to do that’. It’s much more charming that way, it’s not saccharine at all. It’s a bit like that first kiss moment. Obviously you know that Aladdin is going to get the girl in the end, but hopefully audiences will find the near misses interesting to watch.”

North Wall, Summertown, from Tuesday till January 5. Box office: 10865 766266, creationtheatre.co.uk