"What a show!" Xan Phillips

What a show!

I knew I was in for a treat having seen in 2022 the Christmas Youth Production of Alice: A Musical Adventure in Wonderland.

Once again Jacquelyn Ockwell was at the helm as writer and director and once again I left the theatre buzzing about what I had just witnessed.

It is amazing that everyone in 'A Christmas Carol' is under 18. There is such maturity and depth on stage, how they take their characters and really own them, that you are lifted and enlightened.

Famous actors from Alastair Sim to The Muppets have performed A Christmas Carol, but what Jacquelyn Ockwell has added is a Dickensian twist with a narrator and a modern character acting as ghosts watching the ghosts make Scrooge’s sorry story unravel.

It’s a clever idea and will enable younger members of the audience, and quite possibly older members, see that this tale of 200 years ago has as much relevance now as it did then.

By the end I was beginning to realise that being a “scrooge” has potentially been reinterpreted by this show. 

It isn’t about being mean, it is about change, it’s about seeing that materialism is an addictive, destructive drug, and without doing good with your earnings there is little value in collecting so much wealth.

All members of the cast deserve praise, they acted as if they were in their natural place, however it is the leads who will gather the widest plaudits. 

As Ebenezer Scrooge Jake Mostram delivered a very enjoyable, believable performance that had the necessary sharpness and unlikeability, along with the gradual softening of edges during his time with the four ghosts.

Catherine Pain as the Guide and Matej Langridge as Ben, her modern, wannabe Scrooge, made an excellent duo bringing comedy and pathos as the ghosts in the machine of Dickens’ tale.

The production is equally worthy of praise, with a very solid, authentic set created by Chris Bennett, the creative choreography of Steph Wright and “manipulating“ music of Teddy Clements weaving the cast into this tight ball of energy, flow and entertainment.

The costumes are balanced just right by James Henderson as was the lighting by Mark Dymock, no doubt all of them guided by producer Jamie Smith.

The whole team had 14 Sundays of rehearsals to make this production shine. That's awesome dedication! 

It was a tale of the past, brought into the present, that will live long with me into the future.

Book your seats at Mayflower Studios