Oldham Theatre Workshop is a company I have been following for a few years now, and have always been a huge advocate of their work with children and young people, and the productions they do with them are amazing. I think this though will only be the second year running that I have seen a production from their Adult Professional Acting Company.
This original musical was produced in cooperation with Oldham Libraries, and was written by Associate Writer for OTW, Sarah Nelson, with music composed by OTW's director, James Atherton. It's a very Christmassy story, and one that seems to come right out of a Victorian children's fairystory book. It's very twee, and certainly it appeals to young girls, but I can't imagine this story being something young lads would sit through quite the same. In this evening's audience I was sitting close to a whole bunch of Brownies, and even they were very restless and fidgety after about the first 40 minutes of the first act.
It tells the story of a young orphaned girl born on Christmas Eve, who goes to live with a childless couple. They call her Eve, and it is the eve of Eve's eighth birthday. That evening an elf, named Brian, makes himself known to her and tells her that she has a very important mission to complete and she is the only one who can do it. None of the wish-letters from the young children have arrived in the North Pole yet, and she has to help Brian to find them and get them there because without the letters the elves cannot make the presents, Father Christmas can't deliver them, and Christmas will have to be cancelled! So, with the help of Digby the dog (a rather endearing puppet and sometime star of the show), and her best friend Nisha, they go on a journey to find the letters and restore the Christmas status quo. It's a very heartwarming story and does touch upon certain contemporary themes such as homelessness, identity and family values, but I do think the show was somewhat too long (especially since it is advertised as suitable from age 4 upwards, and the whole thing - including a 15 minute interval - ran for 95 minutes).
The small stage at Oldham Library always presents set design issues, but this evening OTW had excelled themselves. The stage looked cluttered and filled with bric-a-brac as the family were eclectic collectors of antiquities and strange objects (which the cast used well throughout as part of the story), but there was still plenty of space to move around and each area was clearly definied. There was even a couple of Christmassy touches too. On one side a piano with a pianist providing live accompaniment throughout. The lighting at the theatre is quite limited but what they had was used to good effect and the overall production values of this show were excellent.
A cast of five (four of which we saw last year in Hamsel And Gretel) all played a variety of roles throughout the show. Purvi Palmer is as well as other things, Eve's best friend Nisha, (a very convincing young girl), and the puppeteer most of the time for the dog. Laura England gives a sterling performance as she changes effortlessly between the kindly mother and the nasty Scrooge-like Mrs Grimble. Madeleine Edmundson takes on a few smaller roles as well as the Dream Collector Nula Nu, and Natasha Davidson is our protagonist, Eve. Davidson gives a delighful and very real performance, and is a very natural actress, although for me, I did find it very difficult at times to buy into her being only eight years old. Stealing the show completely was Jabez Sykes as both the father and Brian the Elf. His high energy performance was what kept the show moving - without it I fear the whole might all have ground to a halt. His comedy timing and ability at physical and facial contortions brought laughter and smiles to all.
In conclusion, the Musical was original and certainly not boring, but it was played very much on a similar level throughout. There were few dynamic changes and the storyline did go exactly where you'd expect it to. The singing - especially the harmonies - were all lovely, but again, musically there were very few upbeat, jazzy moments, and the show even started with a very solemn rendition of 'In The Bleak Midwinter'! The ending also seemed to drag, as we were presented with a couple of false endings before we actually got to the curtain call. However, all told it was very well presented / acted, but a little backward-looking... it was the kind of show that children would have been enthralled by in the 1950s.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 18/12/19
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