Review: A Christmas Carol. Lace Market Theatre. Nottingham.

Working with and moulding a large ensemble of nineteen, with a mix of adults, younger actors and children is no easy matter especially on the amateur stage and this credible production of A Christmas Carol at The Lace Market Theatre brings Dickens’ festive story of human redemption fully to life. Director David Dunford and assistant director Chris Hendry have done an exemplary job with their large and talented cast. Forgive me if I don’t mention you all on stage and backstage people but your acting and contributions make this show the very special one it is. All of you.

This version was originally written for and performed by a professional cast at Derby Playhouse (now Derby Theatre) and whilst it illustrates, and often directly quotes, Dickens’ ghostly tale, it does take a few liberties by adding in additional characters not featured in the novel. The fictional firm of Scrooge and Marley employing only the sad and singular poorly-paid clerk Bob Cratchit, did not employ a couple of money collecting goons to go banging on or banging down debtor’s doors. Yet in Karen Louise Hebden’s otherwise well-thought-through script and, by association, included in this production, they appear out of place as a comedy duo. In the traditional story Scrooge himself threatens the Thompkins’ family with re-payment by Christmas Day or else off to the workhouse you go, and only returns on Christmas Day as a redeemed soul to cancel the affected family debt and even offer them a gift of money and hope for the future. I write this because this inclusion of beefy debt collectors jarred my investment as an audience member in the overall flow of the well-known story. Don’t get me started on A Muppet Christmas Carol!

This is a very large cast and the youngest of the players appear on pre-selected evening performances due to performing rights. Here is a link in case you wish to check out who is playing on what particular night. Saying that the show is pretty much sold out this week. The fact that the production hosts so many children and teens is testament to the Lace Market Theatre’s commitment to give young people opportunities to participate in exciting live theatre.

In this production there are also plenty of opportunities for the actors to flex their character playing talents by taking on a variety of roles and they enjoy doing so with great creative aplomb. Whilst it is a cultural shock to see the actor playing Bob Cratchit (James Whitby) chilling out as another character at Nephew Fred’s lively Christmas party one has to accept this as the multi-role style of casting and playing and not Bob Cratchit gate-crashing a posh Victorian Christmas do and knocking back the free sherry and chicken drumsticks.

A couple of strong acting highlights for me are Natascha McCracken’s fabulous turns as Mrs Fezziwig, Mrs Cratchit, Mrs Dilber and a delightful version of Topper with a hint of Gentleman Jack about her. Tonight Ollie Cordall ticks all the cute Christmas boxes as crippled Tiny Tim. God Bless him. I hope he recovers. I am also impressed with the mature, quietly confident performance of Quentin O’ Brien as the always cheerful and resilient Nephew Fred.

As one who enjoyed a couple of small glasses of gin pre-show and at the interval I can attest to the excellent performances of the three spirits who guide Scrooge on his journey from grumpy miser to jovially redeemed champion of the Christmas spirit and generosity towards his fellow human beings rich or poor. These are The Ghost of Christmas Past (James Whitby), The Ghost of Christmas Present (Digby Bown) and The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come (Quentin O’Brien). Ghosts if you could all pay a super strong visitation to a certain Mr Trump in the USA this Christmas please. The world would greatly appreciate it.

Charles Moss as Jacob Marley is a stand-out alarmingly good example of fine acting. I love the body language, all the bling (chains) and the spooky voice that sounds as if it is channelled from the depths of hell. Worth the price of the ticket alone.

Spoiler alert! As the grumpy than grumpy Ebenezer Scrooge Trev Clarke puts in strong and emotional performance that completely nails the character that gets to be a much better man by the end of the Christmas Carol story.

This production is enhanced by a flexible set (Lowenna Quantick) that whilst, in the outset, is a seemingly simple painted up collection of brick walls and two windows; through projection work (Gareth Morris) and some unexpected manipulation of one of the walls we find there is much more to discover in the staging. There is atmospheric lighting by Allan Green and Jonathan Blacknell’s sound design is sharp. The choice to use a live violin player (Roxanna Walker) gives this polished production a musical chance to explore some of the sombre moments and the wilder party scenes. And to finish off I truly believe that the turkey boy (Lauren Tanner) did scootle off with enormous enthusiasm to the butcher’s shop to buy the biggest turkey hanging in the window. That is the power of live theatre folks.

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"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens adapted by Karen Louise Hebden
Lace Market Theatre

Much as I love pantomime, you can’t beat a good classic Dickens Christmas tale, and immediately you think of “A Christmas Carol”. Dickens also wrote four other Christmas novels aside from his most well known one. Christmas without "A Christmas Carol" though is like Christmas without mince pies, turkey, stuffing, mistletoe or Michael Buble.

This is a production for all the family, and I've always thought the story a brilliant introduction for kids to live theatre. Panto at Christmas is great fun for children, but when it comes to taking in a theatrical production and to digest a story within the theatre, this has to be a perfect introduction.

Everyone knows the story of Scrooge, the three ghostly visits, not counting the initial one from Jacob Marley, and his turnaround in attitude towards his family and townsfolk, so I don't need to elaborate on the Christmas story.

This production, you'll find is different to the others that you may have seen; I've seen a few in my time but there were still bits of this story and adaptation that were new to me. For instance, in one of the scenes with The Ghost Of Christmas Present, we see a pair of debt collectors who work for Scrooge, knocking on the door of the Thompkins, asking for the debt they owe to be paid straight away or vacate the property; on Christmas Day morning! And there are other sections that I've not either seen or remembered from prior productions, or the book - but it's been a while since I have read the book.

Another difference is that the opening of the play is told by several story-tellers, and that continues throughout, with different actors taking turns to reveal the past, present and future of the storyline.

Ebenezer Scrooge is played by Trev Clarke, who brings out a more comedic side of Ebeneezer, not that Scrooge would recognise the comedy in his actions or what he says. Trev has one of those faces that can tell a story without ever speaking, which is a real boon for an actor.

Charles Moss plays Jacob Marley as well as several other roles throughout the production. Complete with chains and a ball and chain around his feet, he also has a habit of raising his voice quite unexpectedly, which had the tendency of making some of the audience jump, just in case they, and Scrooge, were not taking what he was saying seriously. It could also be construed to have been the pain that Marley was in having to carry around the chains of his own doing, who knows?

James Whitby features as Bob Cratchit and the Ghost of Christmas Past plus other roles. James always manages to make me smile and these roles play to his comedic talents, giving Cratchit a lovely sense of humour despite the hardship that he, and his family, have to put up with. The aforementioned section regarding the debt collectors also features James as the more hardened collector, and that sense of humour turns out to be a more spiteful comedy scene.

Natasha McCracken is Mrs Fezziwig, Mrs Cratchit, Dora, Mrs Dilber and one of the several story tellers.

Charlotte Carter plays Belle, Mrs Fred, Mrs Thompkins, the Charwoman and another Storyteller. Absolutely loved the comedy of the Charwoman with her typical Cockney humour and accent.

Young Scrooge is played by Rory Squire, who also doubles his role as a Storyteller.

Digby Bown plays Fezziwig, a  Charity Man, the Ghost of Christmas Present, Old Joe and a Storyteller.

Quintin O'Brien plays Fred, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and a Storyteller

Evie Crofts plays a Charity Man, Dick, Thompkins, Topper,  A Business Man and another Storyteller.

The role of Martha Cratchit is shared by Alisia Carolea and Esther Daniel.

The roles of Young Ebenezer and the Turkey Boy are shared by Logan Cordall and Lauren Tanner . Tonight, Monday, I watched Logan shine in this part. I've seen Logan before in other productions and know that he is a cracking little actor, and will grow to make a cracking actor in the future. Obviously has the acting genes, which have also been passed down to his younger brother.

Tiny Tim's part is shared by Ollie Cordall and Marsha Krasnova. And here we get to the cutest young actor I've seen in a long while. With it being Monday night, I watched Ollie Cordall make his debut stage appearance, and what a way to steal an audience's heart. This young man remembered every line, delivered incredibly sweet versions of carols and also managed to look so indescribably cute into the bargain. At the final bows, his flat cap was so big for him that it fell off every time he bowed his head. Now, I'm not saying all this because I know his mum, because Ollie was all anyone was talking about as they left the theatre.

Master Fezziwig (1) and Fanny are played by Esther Daniel.

Miss Fezziwig (1) and Belinda Cratchit are played by Evie Jamieson.

The part of Ignorance is shared by Marsha Krasnova and Ollie Cordall.

Miss Fezziwig (2) and Want are played by Ivy Pickering-Nojac.

Master Fezziwig (2) and a Carol Singer is played by Lauren Tanner.

The other Carol Singer's role is shared by Logan Cordall and Alisia Carolea.

Peter Cratchit's role is shared by Joel Walker and Logan Cordall.

The whole cast make this production go with a swing and is a real treat to watch because it goes back to that wonderful traditional feeling of a Dickensian Christmas.

Directed by David Dunford, assisted by Chris Hendrey. They had their hands full with such a large cast, and such a large list of characters to work with, but what a show, and as I've said before, I love the fact that, no matter how many productions of the same play you see, with every Director, you get to see a different version of the same story, and that is what keeps theatre fresh. This pair have succeeded in doing just that.

The set design is by Lowenna Quantick. As you can see from the photos the set is really good; but what they don't show is that there is a section of the back set that actually swivels around so that you can use the majority of the set for either the indoors or outdoors sections, and then there's that smaller swivel section that changes everything from an outdoor scene to an indoor scene.

Lighting Designer is Allan Green and I've seen enough of Allan's work to know that this area is going to be good, absolutely flawless, and that is what we have here, a flawless lighting design to accompany every feel or change of emotion throughout the story.

Sound Designer is Jonathan Blacknell. All the cast have excellent projection, even the smaller cast members, so the sound design here is concerned with everything apart from the cast. All the effects were cued aptly and everything flowed with the utmost of smoothness.

The music in this production is all done to the accompaniment of a solo violin, played beautifully by Roxana Walker, which also enhances the feel of the Dickensian era.

The Projection Designer is Gareth Morris and this has been very cleverly utilised in line with the set. There's a window that has been painted in such a way that if you look at it one way, you're looking out, and then in another way, you're looking in. It's like one of those magic puzzles that was all the rage years ago which drove everybody mad; anyway I digress. With the projection beamed onto that window space, it created that inside looking out at the streets, and then another showed a family inside the home, so you get two scenes for the price of one, all thanks to this clever projection design.

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