A Christmas Carol

As I walked up the steps into the Attfield Theatre on a cold and frosty evening I could hear Christmas carols echoing around the market square like a haunting memory of a Christmas past. I opened the door and inside I found a small crowd had gathered around the staircase as the mysterious Carol singers of Victorian ‘Oswestry’ were revealed in all of their splendour. The scene had been seen set.

Ascending the stairs into the auditorium with a programme containing the words to ‘Deck the Halls’ and ‘Let It Snow’ I was then seated and given a set of sleigh bells with the instructions of ‘you will be told what to do’! You might have gathered that this adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Alan Harris has a few modern twists and required full audience participation.

Its not very often that you see Bob Cratchit (Stephen C Mason) give his ‘Secret Santa’ present to Ebenezer Scrooge (Mark Lord) in a gold-metallic gift box, or indeed expect Tiny Tim to sing ‘Silent Fart’ to the tune of ‘Silent Night’ after being taught by another boy in the audience, or expect Ms Aubin (Carrie Fisher) to be both French and Welsh.

Of course the traditional story of Scrooge being visited by his business partner Marley (Thom Kerr), the Ghost of Christmas Present (Carrie Fisher), the Ghost of Christmas Past (Grace Turner) and the Ghost of Christmas Future (Poppie Chapman) remain at the very heart of this tale.

The sleigh bells of course were used to welcome the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Past.

It wasn’t long before we were clapping along at the ‘Office party” of Mr Fezziwig (Rob Bound) and being introduced to his gin drinking daughter Belle (Claire Mason) and of course we see the office romance develop with Apprentice Scrooge (Jake Baker).

There was a great performance by Angela Sampson as Mrs Roberts and some great reactions from Delia Benton as Mrs Fogarty when Tiny Tim sang his second song ‘Fire Bells’ (about her cooking) to the tune of ‘Jingle Bells’.

Congratulations to Jamie Evans who stepped into the parts of the Beggar and Dick the apprentice at short notice.

The star of the evening however has to go to 9-year-old Zakariah Mason for his cheeky portrayal of Tiny Tim and his confidence on stage as an actor. Great interaction between Stephen C Mason and Zakariah Mason as they sat eating their Christmas pudding and a few whispered instructions of can I have some more!

The set design for this production was clever as the stage flats opened up almost like turning the pages in a book although I did find the moving of some of the larger properties quite noisy and distracting. The setting and style of this production were predominantly Victorian occasionally jarred by the occasional rubber chicken or large furry turkey.

Overall the audience were treated to an evening of family friendly fun, entertainment, Christmas spirit, mulled wine and mince pies, all finished off with a traditional Victorian snow scene. ‘God Bless us, every one!’

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