Anne-Marie Piazza and Joey Hickman in A (Scarborough) Christmas Carol at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, London. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
A (Scarborough) Christmas Carol continues at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough until 31 December.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
I can just hear the task being set in the scriptwriting class: “Okay, today you are going to write an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It should be set for the stage, use only four actors, tell the whole story including ghosts, be relevant to our world… Oh yes, I think it should be a musical, don’t you? What about all the actors playing all the instruments needed? Yes, that will do nicely. Deadline – two weeks today.”
It is a measure of just how robust Dickens’ stories are that you can take all the ingredients, mix them up, and still come out with a show that is entertaining and recognisably the chronicle of Scrooge’s Christmas Eve.
Although at times straining for effect, Nick Lane’s adaptation, with Olivier Award-nominated composer Simon Slater, pulls off a show that entertains and educates, just as Dickens would have wanted.
The basic concept is that the four characters are Scrooge’s servants. They re-tell/re-enact Scrooge’s adventures while interjecting songs that comment on the action.
Signalled by rapid costume changes, each actor plays a list of characters as long as your arm.
Elliott Rennie, for example opens as the Scrooge household bootboy; plays the most muscular of Tiny Tims; then raps his way through the Ghost of Christmas Future where vowels have been lost because of the prevalence of texting.
Perhaps the most remarkable demand falls on Anne-Marie Piazza who, as the Cratchits sit down for a meal, plays Mrs Cratchit and the entire squabbling family. This bravura performance drew spontaneous, but isolated, applause from me.
Joey Hickman plays Scrooge’s butler, embodying at the beginning some of Scrooge’s cynical qualities. Indeed, some children took him at his word when he said there was not going to be a show and we should all go home. Teachers rapidly told them to put coats back on.
In the most surreal section of the show, Alicia McKenzie plays a mother with a walnut for a head, and the next moment is giving us a haunting tune on her flute.
Musically the show demands astonishing versatility as the cast play, inter alia, trombone, cello, double bass, accordion and guitar.
The greatest audience reaction came with the Ghost of Christmas Future’s rap ‘Scary and We Know It’, but they were also roused by ‘Christmas Day Every Day’.
Director Paul Robinson ensures that there is enough pantomime in there to nod in the direction of tradition (“It’s behind you,” they shout as the sinister Worm of Time comes and goes) while ensuring the plight of children around the world is not ignored.
Children in the audience were delighted to participate in snowballing Scrooge as, it must be admitted, was I.
The theme of panto and circus is also there in Helen Coyston’s brash colours for the costumes.
There is no doubt that theatres are looking to be more creative with the concept of Christmas entertainment. No one wants to have worthy social comment at this time of year. What we need is more of the totally barmy world of A (Scarborough) Christmas Carol.
Mike Tilling
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