A Santa. In September. This is a joke, right? I mean, we haven't even done the nuts and witches' hats thing yet. But Fabulous Beast dance company insists that its new production, The Christmas Show, which opens at the Project in Dublin tomorrow - isn't going to add to the Yuletide yuck factor. On the contrary, it describes the show as "an antidote to premature seasonal cheer" which will "take a look at Yuletide in a typically anarchic way". Anarchic would appear to be an understatement, for the press release goes on to talk about "suicide, sweatshops, accidental death, fried eggs, party hats, power tools and turkeys".

And then there's the countertenor. Countertenor? In a dance show? "Umm, yes," says Christopher Robson, highly respected Handelian, creator of the title role in Philip Glass's Akhnaten and veteran of just about every operatic stage you could care to name, from Covent Garden to Chicago. So does he dance? He chuckles. "No, I don't dance," he says. "It's primarily an acting role, with a bit of singing. I've been trying to move in that direction because as I get older I want to broaden my musical horizons a little, and it can be difficult for a countertenor to do that."

It certainly can. Having come out of the choir stalls, where men with high voices were once gainfully employed in singing harmony against the tenor - hence the name, contra tenere - countertenors have recently developed into commercial superstars, with singers such as Andreas Scholl and David Daniels commanding top billing for their performances in baroque opera. Man cannot, however, live by Handel alone - and the only viable alternative for most countertenors is to sing contemporary roles, an even more esoteric activity with an even more specialised audience.

Robson has done a bit of Schubert singing, but, he says, it's tough going. "Musically it's fine because it's quite acceptable to transpose Schubert's songs around, adapting a tenor song for a soprano and vice versa," he says. "What's difficult is to convince people that as a countertenor you can find enough colours in your voice to make it work. Some of my colleagues haven't done the voice any favours in that regard.

'It's easy to get lazy as a countertenor, and just keep on making the same sound that you always make because it's so exotic anyway." He has always been interested in the acting end of things - which makes life easier in the weird and wacky world of contemporary opera. Of the roles which have been specially written for him, which stands out? "They all stand out, actually, but Ahknaten with Philip Glass - that was a major career-enhancing role for me, because I spent two years preparing for it with the same director." He also played the part of Claire in John Lunn's The Maids, an adaptation of Genet's play, with his brother - tenor Nigel Robson - as the other maid. Men in tights? "Well, we wore black skirts and white aprons; it was quite clear what we were, but we didn't do it in drag or wear makeup or anything," he says.

And now he's playing Santa. Nothing ambiguous about that, you might think: but you'd be wrong. "I'll be dressed in a Santa costume, but it's very grubby - and I won't be wearing the beard." Without giving too much away, can he say what The Christmas Show is about? "Umm. Well, Jesus is there, and there's a woman who has cooked a turkey but then she commits suicide; and there's a man who is her friend and he's electrocuted by the Christmas tree. There's a set of twins, and Santa comes along and gives them a present - which they don't like, so he cooks them scrambled eggs for breakfast. And it ends with a crucifixion. A pretty stylised crucifixion, I hasten to add, but still . . . "

Crucifying Christmas. It has a certain ring, doesn't it?

Fabulous Beast's The Christmas Show is choreographed by Michael Keegan-Dolan and Rachel Lopez de la Nieta, with costumes by Juman Malouf, lighting by Tina McHugh and original music by Philip Feeney. It opens at Project, Dublin, tomorrow night