Christmas Crackers: 3 January

Christmas Crackers, Salisbury Umbrella
Salberg Studio, Salisbury Playhouse, 16th December 2003 to 3rd January 2004
Performance 8.45 p.m. (meal begins 7.30 p.m.) Matinees 2.30 p.m. 20th and 27th December and 3rd January (tea after show)

Runs 2 hours 05 minutes: One Interval

Tickets 01722 320333: http://www.salisburyplayhouse.com

Review Mark Courtice: 16th December 2003

Festive offering lacks snap.
A jolly Christmas show combined with a meal is a seasonal tradition at the Salisbury Playhouse studio. This one is provided by Salisbury Umbrella, an ad hoc grouping of local actors who produce work together when their schedules permit. Many are familiar faces to the Salisbury Playhouse audiences.

The show is a succession of songs and sketches, all more or less loosely based on the theme of Christmas. Apparently the show has been touring round the village halls of Hampshire and Wiltshire for the last two years, and it shows. Talk about knowing your audience this show includes routines about the Womens' Institute, milking, Church of England services, and I thought at one stage we were going to get into hunting! The overall impression, however, is of a bunch of actors' party pieces.

This is reinforced by the set, a cartoonish sketch of a Christmas fireside, decorated with caricatures of the actors as if they were, in themselves, festive. The rest of the production has the air of a show put together from leftovers from a richer Christmas feast. The costumes for instance, in part credited to the Salisbury Playhouse wardrobe, seem to have been grabbed from there without thought or love or style.

Of course actors are terrific company, and these are talented people so what they have to offer is generally well done but it is insubstantial fare. Too often weak jokes are spun out into shaggy dog epics, some of the songs are clever, but they often feel underdeveloped. The lack of ideas is especially apparent when they get to the Cratchits' Christmas meal from Dickens Christmas Carol which is woefully mishandled here a mistake not helped by having a terrible show off as the audience participation when I saw it.

There is goodwill a-plenty here, but surely it is not too Scrooge-like to expect more of a 2 hour Christmas celebration at this address.

Cast:
Kate Adams
Tony Boncza
Adam Kotz
Ros Liddiard
Nick Lumley

Director: Caroline Leslie
Designer: Peter Liddiard
Lighting Designer: Kevin Scott

2003-12-23 16:58:54