Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Wow! Knutsford Musical Theatre Company presented a visual treat for the eyes with their production of the newly released, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. Directed by Ben Ireson, this production had something for everyone. Upon entering the auditorium, the audience were met with giant Wonka bars and other sweets. The set, which was built in-house, was very good, with Charlie’s house positioned stage left, with the grandparents asleep in bed on an upper level, and the candy man’s sweet shop stage right. The stage was dominated by a video screen taking up the entire back wall of the stage, which was used with great effect throughout with great visuals. From the dormant chocolate factory, which produced coloured smoke after each golden ticket had been found, to the incredible visual created for ‘Vidiots’, with Mike jumping from screen to screen entering well known television programmes and films – absolutely phenomenal. There were moments in the chocolate factory where a curtain was brought in to help aid a scene change. There was one moment where it got stuck, but it was soon sorted by the stage crew. The costumes were great – bright and colourful, which was exactly what was needed for the fantastical world of Roald Dahl. The costumes for the Oompa Loompas were great – bringing a sense of fun to the world.

Michael J Scott was the musical director for this production. There were a variety of different musical styles throughout this production, which were handled well by Michael and his orchestra. The vocals from the cast were very good as well, particularly the power when the whole company were singing.

Choreography for ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ came from Naomi Ireland and Aedin Bartlett, who both performed in the production as well. There were a number of different styles of dance in the production, from the Bavarian routine in ‘More of Him To Love’ to the contemporary dance in ‘The Queen of Pop’. There was something for everyone in this production, all performed with high energy from the cast.

Technical elements were a strong feature of this production, with a huge video wall displaying the different locations. The projections created for the production were a joy to watch, and to discover that they were created in-house shows the breadth of talent in this group. Huge congratulations to Jonathan Hall and Connor J Ryan for your immense work in creating the video design. The sound balance between the orchestra and cast was very good. The lighting design was very good throughout also, with some lovely moments taking place in the auditorium, such as the light up sweets, drawing the audience into the production.

Taking on the title role of Charlie was Lucas McNab. Lucas brought a good sense of innocence to the role, and he was able to get across Charlie’s social class. He displayed great excitement when finding the golden ticket, and was able to show this in ‘I’ve Got a Golden Ticket’. Lucas worked well with the entire cast, especially Andy and Thomas.

Thomas Frith played everyone’s favourite candy man and master manipulator, Willy Wonka. Thomas worked well with the children, creating good partnerships with them, especially Lucas. There were some great deadpan line deliveries from Thomas, especially when warning the children about what they were doing.

Grandpa Joe was played by Andy Dolan. Andy really came into his own in this role and looked like he was having a lot of fun. He totally embodied the character with his body and voice, which was great. Andy formed a great partnership with Lucas.

Hannah Young took on the role of Mrs Bucket. Hannah did well with this small part, giving the audience the backstory to Charlie’s father. There was a good relationship with Lucas, and Hannah’s vocals were very good in her number ‘If Your Father Were Here’.

The Gloops were played by George Robinson (Augustus Gloop) and Rachael Benfield (Mrs Gloop). George had such great stage presence and really immersed himself into the role, delivering a great accent to boot. Rachael was very good as the motherly Mrs Gloop, forming a great partnership with George. Both gave great performances.

The Salts were played by Charlotte Lawson (Veruca Salt) and Tim Wood (Mr Salt). Charlotte gave a good performance as the selfish Veruca, able to display her ballet skills. Tim gave a good performance as the suave, Russian businessman. Both Charlotte and Tim did well performing with Russian accents.

The Beauregards were played by Eloise Tripp (Violet Beauregard) and Oliver Ball (Mr Beauregard). Eloise gave a good interpretation of gum obsessed Violet, and she led ‘The Queen of Pop’ routine very well. Oliver was suitably camp in the role, providing lots of comic moments, as Violet’s ‘dadager’.

The Teavees were played by Charley Green (Mike Teavee) and Clare Moorhouse (Mrs Teavee). This was a good partnership between Charley and Clare, and they created a believable (strained) relationship. Charley gave a convincing performance as the tech-obsessed teen, whilst Clare gave a credible performance as the mother yearning for her son’s love, which was realised at the end (in quite a sadistic way!).

Playing the Grandparents were Brendan Cross-Williams (Grandpa George), Maria McMahon (Grandma Georgina) and Christie Golden (Grandma Josephine). These were some lovely cameo performances, providing some good light-hearted moments. All credit to you for being in bed before the performance started and for the entirety of the first act – you never drew attention from the action that was happening on stage.

Nick Livesey and Aedin Bartlett created a good double act as the news reporters, Jerry and Cherry. They gave a stereotypical representation of American news reporters, which was spot on. The staging of Cherry’s reports was an ingenious way to present them, very much reminiscent of Jamie Lloyd’s ‘Sunset Boulevard’. It was very clever and gave depth to the scenes.

The ensemble appeared in different roles in the first act, but really came into their own in the second act as Willy Wonka’s Oompa Loompas. They were all colourful characters and full of energy. They really helped bring the craziness of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory to life. Well done all!

Overall, this was a great production. The technical elements were simply outstanding, the costumes were colourful and popped off the stage, and there were some very good performances, especially from the children.

A big thank you to everyone at Knutsford Musical Theatre Company for their kind invite and their hospitality.

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