Theatregoers are often baffled by how Hope Mill Theatre can afford to stage sophisticated shows in such a small venue. Bowing to the inevitable, the theatre is expanding operations to produce its award-winning musicals on a larger scale in other venues—in this case The Lowry. Pre-publicity for A Christmas Carol the Musical is typical of the quality one might expect from both venues, with Claire Moore in character as Scrooge photographed glowering around the preserved Victorian street Lark Hill Place in Salford Museum & Art Gallery.
An awareness of the origin of the musical is constant. Andrew Exeter’s set design and Alessandro Uragallo’s video designs use handwritten manuscripts by Charles Dickens as backgrounds. Yet the adaptation by Mike Ockrent and Lynn Ahrens dares to tinker with the source material. The famous opening line is omitted, and a scene based upon Dickens’s life—a child witnessing her father taken into debtor’s prison—is added to explain Scrooge’s obsession with hoarding money. Scrooge’s likely damnation is shown as she refuses to help Fezziwig, the kindly former employer she once idolised.
Joseph Houston and William Whelton co-direct the opening scenes from the viewpoint of Scrooge. All colour is leached from the scenery leaving a bleak, joyless background. The dancing, from Scrooge’s viewpoint, seems frivolous and pointless. The approach is so subtle, the oppressive effect does not become apparent until the tension is broken by the staging of Fezziwig’s annual Christmas party—a riot of colourful dresses from Lorraine Parry and boisterous dancing co-choreographed by Whelton and George Lyons.
Some of the innovations by the co-directors are so spot-on, it is surprising they have not been tried before. Gradually elements of pantomime and music hall emerge. Josie Benson’s Mrs Fezziwig leads the dance with a rowdy knees-up. James Hume‘s Ghost of Christmas Present is an unapologetic, camp Widow Twankey complete with a high-kicking chorus line. Perhaps it is my age, but cannot help wonder if the trio of charity workers being tall, medium and short is intended as a tribute to the old Barker / Cleese / Corbett comedy sketch about social class.
The production is old-school in that the festive display comes not from special effects but the use of a large cast in constant, breathtaking motion, filling the stage either as background characters or dancers but always generating a sense of spectacle.
The show challenges audience expectations. The spirits which accompany Jacob Marley are not ethereal creatures but look like they have climbed, zombie-like, out of their graves. Of course, the greatest challenge is the change to the gender of the central character, so Scrooge becomes Evelina rather than Ebenezer.
Scrooge is often portrayed as wizened and worn down, physically as well as morally repugnant. Yet Claire Moore creates an indomitable, powerful character—striding forcefully around the stage, convinced her worldview is correct and everyone else has got it wrong. Scrooge lectures a grieving child that one day she will accept Christmas is a humbug. It would take a strong personality to argue with Moore’s Scrooge, yet she excels in drawing out a sense of glee and mischief as the character stumbles towards redemption.
Based upon A Christmas Carol the Musical, the union between Hope Mill and The Lowry is a match made in heaven.
Reviewer: David Cunningham