A Christmas Carol – Chickenshed Theatre

A Christmas Carol continues at Chickenshed Theatre, London until 5 January 2019.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

Move over Cecil B DeMille. This 1930s take on A Christmas Carol has a cast of 800. Chickenshed does nothing by halves.

The company’s diverse, inclusive USP is ensemble, ensemble, ensemble with some talented adults (mostly former Chickenshed members who have stayed on as staff) glueing the production together.

Director/writer Lou Stein and composer Dave Carey rework Scrooge as an exploitative textile factory owner against the depression, campaigns for equal pay for women and rumblings of an impending war – but not without retaining some of the most iconic lines and scenes in the original.

It’s neat, clever and effective as we’ve come to expect from this company whose slogan is “Theatre changing lives”.

Each performance features 200 cast members. I saw the ‘blue rota’, but there are also red, yellow and green rotas who appear on other nights.

Such huge numbers enable skilled choreographers (a team of five) to create stunning scenes and tableaux ranging from the darkly lit ghost scenes with actors dressed in William Fricker’s fabulous greenish grey chain-festooned rags to the cheerful party at scene Mr Fezziwig’s house.

Carey’s enjoyable music – played live but out of sight from an over-stage gallery and led by him on keys – is firmly in period with lots of jazzy rhythms. Once or twice it feels as if we’re about to waltz off into Me and My Girl but all music is imitative to a greater or lesser extent.

Ashley Driver’s Scrooge is initially gruff, irascible, scowling outrageously, and I love that “trade and proud of it” voice.

Then he gradually softens as the visitations work their transformational magic. At one point, having stomped about crossly for a long time, Driver does a little dance of glee and it’s a lovely moment.

Gemilla Shamruk sings beautifully as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Michael Bossisse looks fabulous in white fur as a warm and vibrant Ghost of Christmas Present. I liked Paul Harris’ richly voiced Marley too.

Belinda McGuirk, also a cast member, is a wonderfully expressive signer and she’s often joined, or replaced, by other performers sometimes from side stage and sometimes from within the action.

I admire both the inclusivity and the way it’s so fluidly integrated so that the signing becomes an enjoyable part of the show in its own right.

Susan Elkin