A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Lawrence Batley Theatre/Front Room Productions/David Bunting Animation)****

 

By Dave

Link: https://www.thelbt.org/shows/a-christmas-carol

Available until: Thursday 31^st December. Your booking becomes active at a specific time but you have 48 hours so you don’t need to watch it live.

This enjoyable production of A Christmas Carol is probably more aimed at children than adults but as Megan has already reviewed one production of A Christmas Carol, Alba reviewed something yesterday, and Lottie and Ricky reviewed something today, I thought I’d write the review. My daughter assures me I am very immature, even though I am ‘old’ so maybe I am the right person to review it!

Writer Olivia Race (who also directs) has created a framing story of a family of four deciding to read the story together and they take the roles of the narrators. The other characters are played by various actors who presumably aren’t part of the family as there are so many of them! This did mean that the idea of a family reading aloud was lost slightly but there are so many different characters and they couldn’t all be easily voiced by four people, especially when two are children.

The play is just 39 minutes long. The narration is really good for moving the story along and it also adds a bit of humour. It feels like quite a light-hearted production of A Christmas Carol and even the ghosts aren’t as scary as they usually are but I think it’s a valid way to tell the story and it focuses our attention on other parts of the story which are just as much worth thinking about as how scary the ghosts are.

The companies involved in this production have chosen not to film the actors. The part involving the family has shots of things like a fireplace and a Christmas tree. The actual story is shown in drawings, some of which are animated, which fits with the idea of the story being read aloud. I assume it’s art director James McKay who drew the pictures as nobody else seems to be credited. And the artist definitely deserves credit! The drawings are really good. They’re attractive to look at (and there are plenty of children’s books that aren’t attractively illustrated) and the characters’ facial expressions reflect their personalities very well and there’s no trouble working out who anyone is.

The camera work with the artwork is also very effective because it’s not simply one image after another – the camera moves slowly around the picture - zooming in or out, panning to the left or right or tilting up or down - which gives the film a more cinematic effect. It makes the pictures seem even more alive and the way it’s done always makes dramatic sense.

The animations (directed by David Bunting) are clever, they complement the story well and he’s not afraid to keep it simple (let’s be honest, there are a lot of animators who seem to be just showing off – though animation seems to be a lot easier than it used to be so it’s natural they’re exploring their newfound freedom). The animations are used often enough to be an important part of the story but they’re not used all the time so each animation is still a wow moment. The incidental music, composed by musical director Claire-Marie Seddon, is not only atmospheric and suited to the story, it is also really interesting and enjoyable music.

Steve Goddard, Veronica Brophy, Gillie Melling and Elysha Kelly make Dad, Mum, Lil and Annie into enjoyable characters at the beginning and they also do well when narrating. This is a production where there seems to be a particular focus on showing all the positivity and fun in the family relationships. Fred and Clara, played by Kelsie Ross Weavill and Sophie Stones, are a great couple who seem to enjoy joking around, though Fred is also a good and caring man.

The Cratchits are brilliant, I really enjoyed the relaxed, fun atmosphere between Bob (Alistair Cheetham), Mrs Cratchit (Nancy Dawdry-Penvose), Peter (Alex Marshall), Belinda (Clem Melland) and Martha (Matilda Bolland-Wilson). Tiny Tim is always quite annoying but Kaiden Wakefield does his best to give him a personality beyond pious perfection. There’s also a lovely relationship between the Boy Scrooge (Harry Bray) and Little Fan (Gabriella Hoyle).

I know the family life is present in all the productions but my attention is usually much more focused on the ghosts!

The ghosts might not be the scariest I’ve ever seen but they’re still very effective and very distinctive. They’re more ominous than properly scary. Joe Geddes’ Jacob Marley is scary in a fun way, Fiona Taylor’s Ghost of Christmas Past is deceptively sweet and there’s a happy, comfortable Christmas Present from Julie Root… or so she seems at first. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come doesn’t speak so there’s no actor to credit here but the drawing, animation and music come together really well here.

But Scrooge is the star and they have a great Scrooge in Gyles Brandreth. He shows Scrooge’s personality so well, speaking with such believable conviction at the end. His voice is clear, musical and very expressive so he’s ideal for a production like this where the actors aren’t seen. I was quite surprised he was in it as I know him much more as a writer but he has done a bit of TV acting, though he usually plays himself.

It’s a really enjoyable production. There are a lot of great Christmas Carols but if you just want to see one and you like radio or Gyles Brandreth or you’d like to try something a bit different, this would be a great choice.