A Christmas Carol

It was lovely to see a fresh take on a well-known classic, this time with the addition of some original music hall style songs courtesy of Neil Hamblin and Stephen Burdge.

On entering the hall, we were greeted by the delicious smell of Christmas punch which certainly added to the ambience of the occasion. My guest and I took the time to read the thoughtful text dotted around the hall giving a History of Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol, and we were immediately impressed by the lovely hand painted set designed by Katharine Thomas. All of which gave a very authentic feel which was to continue throughout the production.

We were treated to some lovely performances by a cast of 15, some of whom had multiple roles. Everyone was well suited to their characters and delivered their dialogue clearly. Often in smaller venues such as these performers don’t always remember to project but sound was certainly not an issue here, everyone could be heard perfectly.

Amongst the cast there were some particularly notable performances, with Jerry Thomas as Scrooge and Kevin Stemp as Charles Dickens, the narrator of the piece, leading the way. Both gentlemen have a command of the stage and I especially enjoyed the warmth and humour displayed by Kevin which helped to hold the audience’s attention. I also very much liked Liz Curley and Paulette Harris, who combined made an incredibly funny double act in their scene.

I felt there was some confusion as to whether this production was a play or pantomime as there were some calls of “he’s behind you” etc on occasion. Perhaps this was due to there being a very young group of people in the audience who may have been expecting to see a slightly lighter version of this story. Having said that the audience interaction did not affect the Actors on stage.

With the inclusion of original music, it would have been nice to see the titles listed in the programme. Vocals were a bit of a mixed bag, and I feel if songs are being added then it is essential that everyone performing them is confident they know the lyrics which was sadly not always the case. At times some of the cast were singing different lyrics or were not singing when they should have been which was a little distracting. But it was a lovely addition and nicely broke up some of the lengthier dialogue.

Costumes were good and in keeping with the time, the head dress for the Ghost of Christmas Present was spectacular!! Props were also good and as previously mentioned the set was lovely, beautifully painted with huge attention to detail. The stage never felt crowded by it. The door to Scrooge’s house could have benefited from some small projection when he see’s the face of Marley on the door knocker, but otherwise it worked well as it could be easily moved by the cast when needed. Lighting was effective though and set the tone for each scene.

Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable production and it was wonderful to see a well-deserved full house. As this was my first visit to see Writtle Cards it would have been beneficial to be met by someone from the production team as it’s always helpful to be able to ask questions to gain a little more understanding into the work that goes on both during production and behind the scenes. Hopefully this can be arranged in the future.

Thank you to everyone involved for a great evening of entertainment.

Victoria Carey

Rep for District 8

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