A Christmas Carol
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ROGER'S BAD-TEMPERED BAH HUMBUGGING WAS EXCELLENT
A choir started the evening off with Christmas carols, setting the mood and tone for the evening beautifully. Throughout the evening the choir was used to punctuate the performance to cover scene changes and add atmosphere and mood, which they did splendidly. Charles Dickens himself was on stage to narrate his story in the form of Tony Hunt, who kept the show moving nicely and had a great range of expression in his voice. Ebenezer Scrooge was tackled by Roger Priestley, whose bad-tempered bah humbugging was excellent, and when it came to the transformation at the end of the show he was equally exuberant. Martin Heal took on the role of the downtrodden Bob Cratchit and made him most sympathetic, even when he was annoyed his good nature won through. When things began to go wrong for Scrooge, with the appearance of the Ghost of Jacob Marley, this was handled well with Dick Amos, who took the role, appearing as Scrooge's door knocker. His was a very melancholy performance, as was appropriate and his clanking chains were most impressive. First of the other spirits to appear was the Ghost of Christmas Past, played by Robert Best, who was firm but fair with Scrooge as he took him on his journey. During this part of the story we saw the young Scrooge (Liam Davies) with Belle (Juley Binns) create a touching scene in which she breaks off their engagement. This was well handled. After the interval, the Ghost of Christmas Present, played by Liz Shields, took Scrooge to see the damage he was continuing to do and there was a lovely family scene with all the Cratchits - Annie Deeley as Mrs Cratchit, Rachel Churches as Belinda, Andrew Churches as Peter, Alice Heal as Martha and Ewan and Shona Blair as two smaller Cratchits. Despite their poverty, which was all too apparent, this was a delightful scene full of the fun of a family Christmas. Liam Blair played the silent Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come with dignity and there were some lovely cameos from Elaine Nicholls, Lou Rossiter, Phil Ryder and Robert Best as they tried to sell Scrooge's goods following his death. Costumes were excellent throughout, as was the make-up, and I liked the monochrome set, which allowed the colourful costumes to shine through. Lighting was well used to pick out the action while other parts of the stage were being changed; I thought the street lamps by the choir were a nice touch. My only criticism would be the use of music. Having used the choir throughout, towards the end of the show there was some recorded music which seemed out of context with the rest of the show, all of which had been live apart from a few sound effects. This just seemed a little odd to me, but did not really affect my enjoyment of the show and director Kim de Vries can be proud of the production. Ken
Edmonds
A Christmas Carol,
Godney Amateur Dramatic Society, Godney Village Hall SOME years ago, I drove back from a GADS panto across the Somerset Levels on a wild stormy night. I saw a fox, deer and a cold tawny owl, wrapped in its feathers on a branch overhanging the road. The panto had been a particularly spooky version of Little Red Riding Hood, and I wouldn't have been surprised to see a wolf creeping behind the roadside trees. Even on a bright winter's afternoon, Godney is an atmospheric place, with its old farms, river-side cottages, ancient orchards and narrow lanes running between willow-edged dykes and drains brimming with dark cold water. This year's show was A Christmas Carol, staged not as a pantomime or sentimental tear-jerker, but staying close to Charles Dickens' original tale, with its strong narrator's voice, and the growing sense of foreboding, clanking chains, chiming clocks, and procession of ghosts, grotesques and conjured scenes of past, present and future. Director Kim de Vries kept Scrooge (Roger Priestley) and narrator Charles Dickens (Tony Hunt) on stage almost all the time, with cleverly changing sets moving the action and time back and forth, and a chorus of singers in front of the stage, singing Christmas songs and carols between the principal scenes. The choir included some fine voices, notably Caroline Barton’s solo in ‘O Night Divine.’ The play began with Tiny Tim (10 year old Rachel Best) singing In ‘The Bleak Midwinter,’ and the curtains opened on a grim and wintry London, the stage divided between Scrooge's bleak office stage left, and the crowded ramshackle streets on the right. Designer Simon Ledson created an intense atmosphere of cold and dread with the monochrome clothes, props and sets, which changed easily to Scrooge's chilly rooms, the Cratchits' poor but loving household, and the memories, scenes from real life and predictions of Scrooge's miserable death, through which the ghosts lead him. This was a welcome change from the usual winter am-dram pantomime fare - a thoughtful, crisp adaptation of a familiar story, strongly directed, extremely well-acted by the large cast, imaginatively staged and played with real conviction. Fanny Charles,
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