A CHRISTMAS CAROL

European Arts Company at the Cramphorn Theatre, Chelmsford

18.12.16

“Read by Mr Charles Dickens. The Author”. Well, we can only speculate on what those hugely popular readings were like, and how close Mr John O'Connor comes to the original. Personally I have always imagined a bold, melodramatic rendition, but this is largely a question of personal taste.

A single chair, the famous reading desk, put to many and varied uses, and some vaguely Victorian screens are the simple setting; unlike Dickens, director Peter Craze is able to call on sound, and to a lesser extent lighting, to conjure up Scrooge's world.

There have been cuts [Dickens sometimes took three hours to tell the tale] – the school room and Joe's rag-and-bone shop two of the casualties – but the key scenes are all in place: The Cratchits' festive meal and Fezziwig's dance both excellently brought to life.

An enjoyable reminder of the original behind so many adaptations and parodies. And, which would have delighted the Charitable Gentlemen, a performance that emulated the original in its charitable purpose, in this case raising funds for Dr Barnado's.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Little Baddow Drama at the Memorial Hall

20.11.13

Jim Hutchon was at the first night -

Alison Woollard’s refreshing version of A Christmas Carol took the Little Baddow Players back to basics, and stripped out much of the dross that has accumulated on this classic over the years. With a simple, soaring set – a trademark of the director – they were able to create spectacular tableaux punctuating the action.

John Peregrine’s Scrooge revelled in his badness, though his conversion from “Bah Humbug” to “Go buy a turkey” was a bit sudden. His nephew, Fred (Paul Bonnici) was persuasive. Especially convincing was Steve Holding, who speaks with his eyes, as the ‘umble Cratchit. Ken Rolf, too, every inch the jovial Victorian gentleman, shone a new light on the Fezziwig’s family dance sequence. And Jeff Green was compelling enough as Marley’s ghost to put shivers down my spine.

The children were at the heart of the production, Matthew Turner as Young Scrooge, Alex Dale-Doczy as Oscar, Lily Beer as Cratchit’s daughter and, especially, small, frail-looking Steven Turner, struggling manfully with his crutch as Tiny Tim.

The play was shot through with all the good nature of a well-organised village production, in the Ambridge tradition (but a bit more convincing). The costumes were superb, the ensemble work by the large, unwieldy cast was totally in character and, joy of joys, an actual real, live, violinist, Anton Archer, to squeeze the last dregs of melodrama out of the production.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Pica Productions in All Saints' Hall Springfield

20.12.2012

That great philanthropist and social campaigner would be delighted to hear his best Christmas story performed to raise funds for Great Ormond Street.

This revival by Pica Productions of Jim Crozier's adaptation travelled to three Chelmsford villages just before the holidays, a timely reminder of some of the real truths of the festive season.

It's not a dramatization, but the narration, and the dialogue, is creatively shared between the seven actors, with a refreshing variety of voices. Not unlike Dylan Thomas's Play for Voices, Under Milk Wood.

Scrooge, the "grasping old sinner" at the centre of the story, was Richard Baylis, who sensitively suggested the waggish human being behind the Bah Humbug, and was moving in his change of heart.

Crozier himself, as well as a narrator, was a finely characterized Cratchit, Greg Whitehead played young Scrooge and his nephew – his infectious laughter a tour-de-force. Beth Crozier, Anna Jeary and Debbie Miles covered Dickens'women, from Mrs Dilber to Fan and Belle. Many plum roles, and plummiest voices, came from Roger Johnson – Marley, Fezziwig, the schoolmaster and the portly gentleman.

We enjoyed the famous moments, of course, the death of Tiny Tim was superbly done, but it was a real pleasure to meet the whole Cratchit clan, and to be reminded of the story of Ali Baba and Crusoe's parrot.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Assembly and Riverside Studios at the Arts Theatre

05.12.2012

for The Public Reviews

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas … A couple of inches of sparkly snow this morning, and then Simon Callow's masterly telling of that most seasonal of tales, Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Hardly a dramatization, with the various voices mostly just hinted at, and nothing like the author's own readings: no desk, no prompt copy with gestures and vocalizations noted in the margin. But a compelling narration, subtly staged in Tom Cairns' atmospheric production.

We enter to see the seven assorted chairs stacked at the sides, rather incongruously draped in fairy lights. There's a gauze, snow and a City streetscape, and on the soundtrack, an appropriate carol, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Callow, in overcoat and muffler, begins with a simply delivered prologue, almost conversational. Only on "once upon a time" does the coat come off and we get down to business in Scrooge's counting-house. And at the close, the envoi and the epilogue, he carefully stacks chairs and fairy lights before delivering the final "God bless us, every one!".

The effects are sparingly deployed: the clock, the window, the bells, the firelight. For the most part it's down to Callow's mellifluous voice, the timbre beautifully tempered to convey the passion and the sentiment of the story. Of course, there is a deal of humour too, with dancing fingers at Fezziwig's ball, the party game of Yes and No, featuring a roomful of eager voices, and a very contemporary "boy in Sunday clothes" near the end – "Christmas Day, innit ?".

The text is carefully abridged [Dickens himself used a similar, much shortened version]. A shame to eliminate Mrs Dilber, but these eighty minutes did include a generous helping of the author's inventive imagery, as well as the essential elements of the supernatural and savage satire. A century and a half later, Dickens' city is still haunted by Ignorance and Want, Christmas is still "a time for paying bills without money" and the world is not yet free of "guilty governments".

Callow's quietly commanding presence, working its magic on our imaginary forces, the beautifully judged staging, and Dickens's timeless fable, make for a genuinely moving seasonal experience, an organic antidote to the strident tinsel of London's Christmas.

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews