'A Christmas Carol' Review
"As ever the Rose is offering a superb alternative to panto."
Venue: The Old Rose Kingston. Get directions.
Our verdict:
Photo by Mark Douet
Written in 1843 at a breakneck speed and under the heavy shadow of looming debt Dickens’ marvellous A Christmas Carol is so brimming with festive wonder and moral edification that it is well nigh impossible to ruin it, such a staple of the yuletide season has it become.
You can always rely on the Rose Theatre for sheer quality in their annual Christmas show, their young casts invariably brimming with effervescence and energy galore and this year is no different.
Morgan Lloyd Malcolm has given the story a dramatic spin by making our Ebeneezer Scrooge female and by setting it within the confines of a Victorian Ragged School, one of the charitable institutions of the era, run to educate destitute children.
As Dickens himself was passionate about righting social inequality this works quite well, his own presence signalled by the storyteller bearing his name who teaches the children about their power to change the future and write their own powerful stories, all whilst endowing proceedings with regular dollops of magic dust.
Photo by Mark Douet
The only slight issue with the above angle is that sometimes the many glories of Dickens’ story get a little obscured by the retelling of the story in a piecemeal fashion; yes, it’s interesting to see the story reframed and Scrooge’s lamentable behaviour given a context (a disappointed, disheartened woman freezing up her heart in a man’s world) that makes ‘her’ conduct more explicable.
But what pulls this production through any narrative dips is Frankie Bradshaw’s magical set - with its centrepiece clock literally dissolving time - and the wonderful performances of its young cast who are thoroughly engaging.
Eamonn O’Dwyer’s musical score is fun too, particularly the numbers Tock Tick and You Can’t Take It With You.
From the Blue cast - all good - Lily Rowell is a delight as Maud, one of the children who at least tries to understand why Scrooge has become so miserly and as the ‘grasping, clutching, a covetous old sinner.’
Professional Penny Layden is excellent; when she says those of her kind have mucked up the world with their greed, the audience’s collective response is audible in its agreement.
And Scrooge’s childlike joy at finally finding a way to thaw her ossified heart and once again find genuine joy in Christmas is entirely persuasive.
As ever the Rose is offering a superb alternative to panto and a very entertaining show in its own right that manages to give a fresh perspective to a perennially relevant and beguiling Christmas classic.
