DECEMBER – A NEW PLAY FOR CHRISTMAS (Bag of Beard Theatre/Old Red Lion Theatre)***

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.bagofbeard.co.uk/december £10

Available until: 6^th January 9am EST (2pm UK)

A number of theatre companies have chosen to adapt A Christmas Carol this year and this makes me very happy. I studied it for GCSE English when I was still quite anti-literature and it was the first classic work I enjoyed. (But it definitely wasn’t the last.)

It is especially good to see the story written in such original ways. In addition to the great production at the Old Vic, starring Andrew Lincoln, there has been a Shakespearean adaption by Ian Doescher, performed by The Show Must Go Online, and a short piece by Athena Stevens, which she performed in Looking a Lot Like Christmas, presented by the Donmar Warehouse on youtube. The Bristol Old Vic, the Lawrence Batley Theatre, the Watermill Theatre and the Guildford Shakespeare are also producing A Christmas Carol and I’m really looking forward to them. (It’s probably a good thing I am, really.)

December – a New Play for Christmas almost does what I was asked to do as a GCSE student, but playwright and director Alexander Knott does it a lot better! This play focuses on the character of Bob Cratchit, telling the story from his point of view. Bob seems really nice when you read A Christmas Carol. He is professional at work and lovely when Scrooge visits him at home. But that’s all we know. This play explains what happens to Bob while Scrooge is being haunted and how it affects him.

The play has been filmed in the Old Red Lion Theatre, but not on the stage.  Without an audience, the cast are free to use the whole building.

Two actors appear in this play, but the (Old Red) lion’s share of the play is performed by Ryan Hutton. He plays the role of Bob Cratchit and also some of the people with whom he interacts. It can’t be easy talking to himself, and I would imagine that one character was filmed at a time, leaving Ryan with nothing to react to. But the conversations he has with himself seem very natural and he characterises each person really well.

But Bob is the star and this story tells us so much about a character about whom, I now realise (sadly a bit late to mention it in my GCSE exam!), we actually know very little. Alexander Knott’s play contradicts nothing in the book, but he looks at it from a new angle and it’s really interesting.

The second actor is Freya Sharp, who plays Martha Cratchit, (Tiny) Tim Cratchit and John Stoneworth. Her characters are very different and the way she plays Tim is especially fascinating. The book makes him seem impossibly good – so good, he doesn’t seem quite real – but December shows that perhaps he’s not that good after all.

It’s an intriguing play and the film direction is beautifully done by Charles Flint. There are some great shots and some really creepy moments. It’s a great idea and I really like it.