A Christmas Carol

By Robert Iles - 2nd Dec 2004

I always look forward to new Creation Theatre Company shows and this one was no exception, especially as they were using the Spiegeltent again. This time the show was their own adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, a to which I’m very partial. So why did this show just not gel?

I think that the problems started with the layout of the seating. Last time I was in the Spiegeltent it was theatre in the round and we all got a good view. This time, I was three rows from the front and had four pillars (well, tent polls) between me and various parts of the stage. It was like watching theatre through prison bars and kept me and the performance apart and the show never quite reached out and pulled me in. For me, I would also say that the cast was perhaps too pared down, the adaptation failed to find anything new from such a well-known text and the ghosts just didn’t have the presence to either impress or scare.

Having said that, the performances themselves were excellent, the small cast working hard to bring the story to life and never once losing focus or commitment. Whilst this is definitely a full ensemble piece I would say that Matthew Hendrickson’s Scrooge was, for me, the memorable part of the evening; mixing Alistair Sim, Leonard Rossiter and a spark of his own magic, this is a very watchable, and likeable, performance.

The tent, the atmosphere and the performances made it worth the evening out, but I’m afraid I took little away from this production to treasure as I have from previous Creation work.