A Christmas Carol: Cratchit if you can.........

A Christmas Carol, the timely seasonal offering from Domino Players centres round old miser Ebenezer Scrooge who refuses to accept the Christmas spirit and generally spreads gloom and misery in his wake with money as his sole purpose for living.

So the scene is set. The lights go down on a cold winter’s evening in the atmospheric setting of Lain’s Barn and we begin with a prologue by Scrooge’s nephew Fred, confidently and competently delivered by Michael Hurd, who not only looked the part but also as though he was really enjoying himself. Quite right too .

We are then transported to the offices of Ebenezer Scrooge, a character so well interpreted by Steve Rees that I am sure he could make a living offering himself up for this role internationally. Steve Rees is Ebenezer Scrooge.

Scrooge shares his offices with his fifteen-shillings-a-week downtrodden clerk Bob Cratchit played by Rob Thorpe who succeeded in convincing us of his plight in trying to support his family on this meagre sum, including his disabled son Tiny Tim. (No lame performance from young Eric Morgan here).

Following his refusals to several seasonal charities, Scrooge returns home and is confronted anon by the ghost of his long dead business partner Jacob Marley (Rob Bell) who warns him of the impending visitation of three spirits during the night.

The Ghost of Christmas Past (Nigel Thornbory) soon appears and shows Scrooge scenes from his earlier years expertly choreographed on such a small stage presumably by Ms Becker, especially the cracking scene at Mr Fezziwig’s Christmas party.

The Spirit of Christmas Present, nicely played by Heather Houghton, then turned up and we are taken off to cameo scenes from the then present day. By now Scrooge is well shaken and deciding to change his ways, a path he soon confirms when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Chas Hart) illustrates how little anybody cares about Ebenezer’s future demise. The sight of his own tombstone and chilling epitaph is now more than enough for our hero to rehabilitate himself permanently.

When I saw the cast list for this production, I wondered how many members Domino Players had and did it leave anybody in the County for any other am-dram groups. However on inspection many parts were doubled, trebled and even quadrupled up. One young man, Connor Lawson, had four parts, there’s commitment for you.

Domino Players particularly Director Nancy Becker are to be congratulated for tackling this production, the use of the restricted space and set design showed great creativity and thought.

Unfortunately the high roofed Lain’s Barn, as lovely a setting as it is, has poor acoustics, and much of the dialogue drifted up into the rafters. There were several pregnant pauses but well covered to the point when you weren’t quite sure if they were meant or not. There was also the strange spectacle of one back stage member walking into Scrooge’s bedroom and searching for something that was nothing to do with the story. But hey ho that’s am dram.

The lighting was well thought out especially when the Ghosts came and went and the use of so many children in the street scenes showing enthusiasm for the piece was a delight.

Overall the production worked well and was received warmly by the ample audience who had braved the elements to experience this fine winter’s tale.

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