A CHRISTMAS CAROL. To 20 January.
Derby
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
by Charles Dickens adapted Karen Louise Hebden
Derby Playhouse To 20 January 2007
Tue-Sat and Mon 11 Dec 7.30pm Mat 2.30pm 12-14, 16, 19, 23, 27-30 Dec, 3-4, 6, 9-11, 13, 16-17, 20 Jan
o performance 26 Dec
Audio-described 6 Jan 2.30pm, 17 Jan 2.30pm
BSL Siggned Tues 9th Jan 2.30pm, Thurs 18th Jan 7.30pm
Runs 2hr 30min One interval
TICKETS: 01332 363275
www.derbyplayhouse.co.uk
Review: Alan Geary: 7th December 2006
Uplifting and life-affirming entertainment for all ages. It actually makes you look forward to Christmas.
Only occasionally does director Stephen Edwards allow this production to slip over that fine edge into mawkishness. When, for instance, he gets Tiny Tim, between that pathetic coughing, to sing Silent Night you wish the poor little mite would trip up on his crutches.
For the rest of the time it’s clear why, after three years, the Playhouse has revived A Christmas Carol, and why it was so popular in the first place. It’s an uplifting and life-affirming piece of entertainment for people of all ages that actually makes you look forward to Christmas.
At times the use of back-projection is over-busy, and Karen Louise Hebden’s otherwise excellent adaptation, particularly at the start, is possibly over-reliant on narration. But some of the set-piece scenes, deliberately arranged to look like traditional Christmas card illustrations, are a sumptuous delight.
Back in the central role, Ben Roberts is a little on the well-fed, chubby side for Scrooge, but his acting makes up for that. When he goes potty with warm-heartedness at the end he’s superb.
Roberts has strong support from an outstanding cast. This is nowhere more evident than in the phantom scene at nephew Fred’s party when all the Dickensian stereotypes are enjoying themselves and Wilkins Topper is after one of the ladies.
The youngest children, from the Egg Theatre Academy, are well done by actors evidently hand-picked to look like genteelly poor Victorian children. [On Press Night it was the Blue Team].
In a show that’s sometimes as much a Christmas musical as straight theatre some strong singing voices are needed. We get them here.
As is routine at the Playhouse, set and special effects are first-class. When Marley’s Ghost comes out of the fire-place weighed down by chains, it’s absolutely as if he’s dragged himself up from something like hell; and the gigantic figure of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is extraordinarily well done.
In his day Dickens had the ability to make strong men weep; this adaptation of one of his most popular works, even in a cynical, tinselled-out world like ours, almost does just that.
Scrooge: Ben Roberts
Fred/Young Ebenezer/Phantom: Carl Ferguson
Mrs Cratchit/Miss Dora/Mrs Dilber/Mrs Fezziwig: Sarah Head
Jacob Marley/Bailiff 1: David Hobbs
Belle/Mrs Fred/Charwoman/Mrs Thompkins: Rachel Matthews
Fezziwig/Ghost of Christmas Present/Old Joe: Neil Salvage
Thompkins/Dick/Wilkins Topper: Ben Sleep
Bob Cratchit/Ghost of Christmas Past/Bailiff 2: William Wolfe Hogan
Red Team: Michael Sylvester/Simon Humphris/Alexandra Broughton/Louisa Chapman/Jordan Leith/Imogen Jesson
Blue Team: Barnaby Johnson/Jasper Hardcastle/Rosie Field/Eve Talty-Sanghera/Mukhesher Gill/Lydia Arnoux
The Band: Clare-Louise Appleby/Brian Towse/Nikki Loveridge
Director: Stephen Edwards
Designer: Steven Richardson
Lighting: Jeanine Davies
Music Arranger/Director: Kelvin Towse
Choreographer: Caimin Collins
Video Designer: Kit Lane
2006-12-09 00:38:37