Christmas Carol

A very apt wintery night and a trip to see one of the all-time great Christmas stories. Except it was a little bit different. Instead of the finished story it followed the career of Charles Dickens himself as he wrote it and the actors then acted out the scenes before his eyes as they came off the pages.  A clever idea from the pen of David Edgar and very well adapted to the Harrold Centre stage by Ad HOC. It certainly got me hooked.

The stage at the Harrold Centre is quite large in comparison to what is quite a small audience venue and with the addition of the front apron provided plenty of room to be sectioned to different areas for various scenes and accommodate what was a large cast. To the rear was a painted brick wall with a sliding section in the centre which opened in spectacular fashion to reveal the various Spirits that visited Scrooge during the action. To stage left was Scrooge’s office complete with typical Victorian office furniture, high backed sloping clerk’s desk for Bob Cratchit, padded wooden armchair for Scrooge and even a fireplace. To the rear, stage right was Scrooge’s curtained four poster bed with gold coloured drapes and in front of that against the side wall various items of furniture were stored for use by Charles Dickens as he unfolded his story.  Two set of steps led off the apron into the audience, one to exit to the bar area stage left and one straight down the middle aisle used for the very spooky entrance of the Ghost of Christmas Future. Clever design and use of space by Chris Chaplin and Director Julie Shelton.

Lighting was by Chris Chaplin and Paul Alexander and sound by Pete Keeley, all appropriate for the various scenes and cued perfectly spot on.

The costumes, by Sue Breach and Fran Ross were superb and some, such as the various dresses were spectacular. The bright red one for The Ghost of Christmas present being particularly so. All looked very authentic early Victorian from the rag-a-muffin outfits for the children to highbacked collars or patterned waistcoats for the gentlemen. Well sourced ladies. Add to that some excellent hair does and wigs by Egon Warnes.

As soon as he stepped on stage you knew that Ethan Leith was playing Charles Dickens. His length and style of hair alone stated Victorian and his flamboyant checked jacket and waistcoat simply confirmed it. And what a confident performance it was, as he laid out the furniture for his imagined scenes and discussed and sometimes argued his plot with his friend John Forster, played by Ryan Kearns whilst writing it on the go. The scenes between them were very engaging, often comic and quite combatant at times, especially when Forster tells Dickens in no uncertain terms he can’t leave the ending ‘there!’

This show has over sixty characters to portray, so despite having a cast of twenty-three, nearly all the actors played at least two and anything up to four parts each.  So even Ethan Leith and Ryan Kearns took on the parts of Young Scrooge, Bowler, Young Marley and Topper between them.  Normally I would review all characters but with twenty-three actors playing sixty plus parts I will confine myself to some of the memorable highlights.

Rick Davis playing Scrooge was extremely dominating with his presence, slowly but surely having his personality and overbearing nature stripped before his eyes. Ad Hoc stalwart, Simon Alaluf played the downtrodden Bob Cratchit in suitably subservient manner, never questioning his status until the end when the reformed Scrooge, but back to his domineering self tells him he is giving him a pay rise and Cratchit, not hearing a word he is saying just gives him a piece of his mind and storms off and after a long pause puts his head back around the door and say ‘What did you say?’ Comic standout moment to savour and timed to perfection.

Lovely little part by Aphra Hoare-Barnes as Tim Cratchit. Slightly outsized cloths and pink cloth cap made her look even more of a half-starved urchin. Particularly impressed with the way she negotiated the stairs using that crutch.

Matt Rowson certainly knows how to make a stunning entrance, slide back the entrance in the rear wall and there spookily lit, complete with clanking chains and ghostly white robe stood Marley’s Ghost! Other characters also entered in the same way, but the initial impact of Marley certainly set the tone.

The three ghosts were very cleverly cast in age order. Christmas Past was played by a more mature actor, Sue Chaplin, Christmas Present by an actor in their prime years, Fran Ross, and Christmas Future by a Child actor, Amelia Hirst.  The slow walk entrance from the back of the hall of Christmas Future was particularly well done.  In fact, she didn’t actually say a word. She didn’t need to, the tension was created by her silence and the underscore – excellent.  In fact, the contrast in delivery styles between the three Christmas ghosts was to an extent what made this show so engaging, The serious spooky Past, the comic more upbeat Present and the totally silent Future were cleverly done.

Trevor Cook gave us a very upbeat, party atmosphere Mr Fezziwig in a wonderfully flamboyant coat and waistcoat ably abetted by Clare Page as Mrs Fezziwig. Another Ad Hoc stalwart Phil Briggs played four different parts, Mr Tumbler, Doctor, Old Joe and a beggar. Finally I give the last word to the various youngsters in the show who gave it a real sparkle, but with a twinge of sadness to the appalling conditions their real life counterparts endured in Dickensian times. It certainly captured the political message the author was making.

So, this was an excellent choice of play, first put on by the RSC in 2017 to critical acclaim. I think Ad Hoc’s version was well directed by Julie Shelton and totally engaging and they can be proud of choosing it in the first place. The logistical complexity backstage of all those costume changes of so many parts must have been a military operation, but the end result was well worth the hard work that had obviously been put in. Well done to all involved.

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