Like everywhere else and everyone else, those involved in the Performing Arts this year have been hit extremely heavily and the full toll of this pandemic will not be known for some time yet. However, many theatres and companies have turned to technology to bridge the gap for the short term in order to try and at least spread some sunshine!
So, instead of a full-blown traditional pantomime at the theatre this year, The Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield have teamed up with local Front Room Productions to bring an animated film to our screens this festive season.
Dickens' A Christmas Carol is possibly the world's best known Christmas story, even if you don't know who wrote it, it is indeed a timeless classic spreading a charitable (christian -with a small C) message and rejoicing in the fellowship of mankind. The novel was adapted here by Olivia Race (who also directed) and the end result was a hybrid between a cartoon and a radio play.
The animations by David Bunting were naive storybook sketches which were brought to life not by clever animatronics but by the voice-over acting layered on top. The sketches were majority grey with colours thrown in for the happy and jolly scenes, and more black for the darker moments. It was very easy to follow in this regard, one knew instinctively whether to laugh and smile or cower!
The voiced characters were played by a whole array of amateur and community thespians from the Kirklees area (local to Huddersfield). taking primarily from The Knaresborough Players and Huddersfield Light Opera Company. Whilst the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge himself was voiced by the enigmatic and delightful Gyles Brandreth. This casting was a master-stroke. Brandreth with his unmistakable slightly upper-class received pronunciation against a whole cast of broad Yorkshire folk speaking in their own dialects and accents further alienated Scrooge, highlighting his difference. The action of the plot being cleverly and easily transferred to West Riding instead of London. Brandreth's gradual change from miserly and nasty bah-humbugging to jolly and high spirited was also very well measured.
A few things though didn't feel quite as well thought through. The Dickensian / Victorian-ness of the production was kept, including some very odd choices of words and phrases. This made me wonder what the target audience for this production is. I don't know, but it does seem that something like A Christmas Carol at Christmastime should be completely open to all ages. And yet, the language niddled. Not the scary bits, not the ghosts and the frightening effects created.... they were somewhat tame in comparison to other versions I have seen, but the odd choice of keeping the antiquated language.
However what did make me sit up was the interpretation of the three old ladies at the beginning of the Christmasses Yet To Come sequence. They were much more like nasty witches than washer-women and seemed to have come straight out of MacBeth! And my final thought was that the Ghost Of Chrsitmas Present looked much more like an overgrown hedgehog than anything and once I had that thought in my mind, I couldn't watch her without seeing a hedgehog. Shame.
However, my personal grypes notwithstanding, the story is universal and Race has condensed the whole novel into about 40 minutes without losing anything of the key elements of the plot or the message, and so ideal for sitting round the TV screen one afternoon with your family to relive the Christmas tale we all know and love.
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
on - 4/12/20
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