Ebenezer the Pantomime

Especially written and directed for The Over Players by Phil Norton, and loosely following the traditional story of A Christmas Carol, “Ebenezer the Pantomime” hit the Over Community Centre stage running as Ebenezer Scrooge and his sidekick Mini Miser had their lives turned upside down by the inevitable three ‘Ghosties’ who between them did their best to show Ebenezer the error of his ways in an effort to save him from a hell where the Devil definitely does not wear Prada. 

The script I felt was a bit of a curate’s egg not really the story of Scrooge, not really a pantomime; although efforts had been made to include all the usual traditions a panto audience expects.  There is not really a character in the Dickens story to create a dame from, therefore in Mr Norton’s script Marley’s ghost underwent a gender change and became Marlene the dame with a mini-Marlene charged with dragging round the huge chains.  

Over Players have a wealth of talent so there were good strong performances in many of the principal roles.  I highly commend Jamie Tipple and Amy Shears as Mini-Miser and Mini-Marlene respectively for the way they handled their characters certainly holding their own with the more experienced cast members. 

Charles Barclay as Ebenezer could have been a bit meaner but that did not detract from his good performance. Although Luke Northfield as Marlene worked hard the brief appearances Marlene was called upon to make did not give him much chance to shine.

 As Scrooge’s nephew Fred, Matthew Sweeney was excellent having great rapport and interaction with the audience although he struggled a little bit with his Christmas cracker joke routine.  We enjoyed exceptionally good performances from Alex Turpin and Maria Marshall (complete with nifty footwork) as Bob Cratchit and Bobswife. They were my favourites!

Other performances worthy of note was the bubbly and bouncy Wendy Lowe as the Ghost of Christmas Past and the jolly Ghost of Christmas Present in the form of Steve Creighton.  

“The Incredible Pantomime Band” led by Musical Director Mike Bernard lived up to their billing and the huge and vocally talented “Inestimable Chorus” threw themselves into the many songs and dances with gusto making full use  of the small stage.  Well done - musically this show was impressive.

I thought the lighting, costumes and hair/make-up were extremely good and all the settings worked well.  I particularly liked the way the ghost sequences were handled and I do hope someone managed to catch that horse!

Thanks Over Players for a lively and entertaining evening.

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