Charles
Dickens’ 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” has spawned more film and stage
adaptations than there is space to list here. The Muppets’ Christmas Carol and
Blackadder’s Christmas Carol spring to mind as personal favourites. To the
pantheon of stars who have graced the role of Scrooge over the last 178 years
or so we can now add… Eric.
Eric (David
Graham) appears as Ericneezer Scrooge, the mean and merciless proprietor of a
music shop in Stoke-on-Trent in 1967. It’s Christmas Eve and Scrooge is going
about his business, ripping off customers and being unkind to his loyal
assistant Nobby Crotchet (Joe Sterling). Nobby’s woes are compounded by the
fact he has ten children to feed including Tiny Tim, who appears as a
disembodied voice from a teapot!
Of course the
great thing about setting the story in a music shop is that every now and again
someone wants to try one of the instruments out – a cue for a song, in other
words. For those who don’t know the Eric shows, these musical interludes are
part of the magic mixture which brings fans back year after year.
After work that
evening, Ericneezer is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Bob
Marley, accompanied by ghostly sounds from off-stage (Scrooge: “What are those
noises?” Marley: “They’re the Wailers!”) who warns him that three spirits are
to visit him in the night. Alone and scared, Scrooge calls for his housekeeper,
Mrs. MacSpreader (Laura Sheppard) who appears in a saucy maid’s outfit and
convinces no one with her explanation that she is too busy caring for an
elderly relative to keep him company as he awaits his ghostly visitors. In a
script littered with double-entendres Mrs. MacSpreader gets some of the best
lines: “well, my knees are tired and aching, but knees apart, I’m excellent!”.
The three
spirits appear in their appointed order, led by the Spirit of Christmas Pissed
who takes Ericneezer back to Fuzzywig’s Works’ Christmas Do in 1955, enlivened
by songs from the era. The cast of this show could do very well as a band in
their own right, turning their talents to a range of feelgood numbers from
across the decades.
Eric’s
Christmas Carol can hardly be accused of sticking religiously to the text of
Dickens’ original. I do not remember the Spirit of Christmas Future ripping off
his black robes to reveal a shiny pink one-piece disco outfit underneath (the
Future in this case being 1978) before launching into a song in any other
version of the story, for instance. It’s obvious from start to finish that
everyone in the cast is having at least as much fun as the audience. The show
pokes fun at everything, including at itself with a number of jokes about how
they can only afford a small cast. Tunstall, one of the six towns that makes up
the city of Stoke-on-Trent, comes in for some particular stick, inviting a good-natured
jeer from sections of the audience.
It would be
wrong of me to reveal whether or to what extent Ericneezer is a changed man as
a result of his encounters, but it’s hardly a spoiler to say that it all ends
with a joyful sing-song with the cast and audience alike joining in and having
a great time.
One lovely
touch is that, unable to perform during lockdown, David Graham wrote a novel
about Eric, “Eight Days A Week” which he is selling to raise money for a local
hospice. So far it has raised over £3,500.
For many people
in North Staffordshire, it isn’t really Christmas until they’ve seen the Eric
show. If you haven’t experienced this unique brand of festive frivolity for
yourself yet, why not come along to the New Vic and join in?
Eric’s
Christmas Carol runs until 11th December at the New Vic,
Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Reviewer - Ian Simpson
on - 1.12.21
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