A CHRISTMAS CAROL adapted Nigel Bryant. Chichester Festival Theatre to 5 January
Chichester
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
by Charles Dickens, adapted by Nigel Bryant
Chichester Festival Theatre To 5 January 2002
Runs 2hr 15min One interval
TICKETS 01243 781312
Review Timothy Ramsden 26 December
Largely successful adaptation of Dickens, helped by several strong performances and atmospheric use of live music.Chichester offers Nigel Bryant's new version of Dickens' perennial Christmas story. In making clear Scrooge's decisions,which have led to his shutting out all but material gain, Bryant clarifies the story. Chief problems with his adaptation are the fussy use at start and end of a pair of narrators who are dropped throughout the main action, and occasional unDickensian sounding additions.
Still, the credit side's uppermost, which should please Michael Feast's Scrooge as the play opens. Hunched over his desk, he shies from all human contact. Feast begins with a fury against the con trick (or humbug) of Christmas that seems to permeate to his core. When he finally loses this, Scrooge dances around the stage as if relieved from a heavy burden.
I found it harder to follow the progress of Feast's Scrooge during the ghostly visitations. There are, though, some poignant moments, as when he revisits his merry old employers the Fezziwigs and joins hand in a Christmas dance. It's when his hand is let go he turns snarling away. This is a person who met rejection with repulsion, growing into the hunched old man we first met, someone whose values have shrunk to the counting house principals by which Christmas is, indeed, a humbug.
In other words, it's not that Scrooge is horrible – clearly not, as he finally dances and throws money around with the profligacy of a convert. It's rather a matter of values, and that's why the underpaid Cratchit family can enjoy themselves – though Scrooge's name dampens the proceedings; there's a marked reluctance in toasting his name. Both Nicolas Tennant's Bob and Simon Trinder's Tim neutralise sentimentality without losing genuine feeling.
Sean Holmes exploits the Chichester stage traps, allowing an aptly sparse staging. Mood and period are finely evoked in the sung and instrumental onstage music. The darkening implications of the action are caught in the progression of Ghosts, from Myra McFadyen's cheery soul (saddled with an impossible roaring-fire headdress) to the final giant shadow warning of what Christmasses to come may be.
Samuel/Robin Hood/Young Cratchit/Poulterer/Banker: Tom Anderson
Prologue/Fezziwig/Isabel's Husband/Lighthouse Keeper/Banker: Peter Bourke
Lizzie/Belinda Cratchit/Charwoman/Caroller/Want: Lisa Ellis
Scrooge: Michael Feast
Jacob Marley/Old Joe: Bernard Gallagher
Isabel/Martha Cratchit/Caroller: Mali Harries
Lady/Mrs Fezziwig/Laundress/Young Cratchit: Joanne Howarth
Prologue/Ghost of Christmas Present/Little John/Banker: John Lightbody
Mrs Cratchit/Ghost of Christmas Past: Myra McFadyen
Nephew/Ghost of Christmas Future/Robinson Crusoe: Fergus O' Donnell
Nephew's Wife/Caroller: Liza Pulman
Young Scrooge/Peter Cratchit/Joseph/Banker: Ferdy Roberts
Bob Cratchit/Banker: Nicolas Tennant
Dick/Undertaker/Tiny Tim/Ignorance/Caroller: Simon Trinder
Boy: Jack Arnold/Johnny Boultwood/Warren Moore/Simon Morgan
Director: Sean Holmes
Designer: Anthony Lamble
Lighting: Chris Scott
Sound: John A. Leonard
Movement: Michael Ashcroft
Fight director: Terry King
Composer: Jason Carr
2001-12-26 23:38:42