Robin Morrissey Archives - thespyinthestalls.com

A Christmas Carol

Online via Jermyn Street Theatre and Guildford Shakespeare Company

Reviewed – 19th December 2020

★★★

“The spirit of Christmas present may have taken a holiday this year, and while this show doesn’t quite lure it back, it does remind us of our Christmases past”

On the day that Christmas was effectively cancelled, it is perhaps a natural reaction to want to seek refuge in some sort of seasonal escapism. ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ or ‘Bad Santa’. ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is another annual favourite. Something comfortingly familiar and predictable. Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” fits the bill perfectly. Written during a time when the British were re-evaluating themselves, its themes of transformation and redemption inspired, if not created, the aspects of Christmas we have grown to love; including family gatherings, festive food and drink, games and a communal generosity of spirit.

In the absence of that, the Guildford Shakespeare Company with Jermyn Street Theatre, are beaming their live, staged version of the story via Zoom, which allows a degree of audience participation. The technology, born of necessity back in March, still feels a little underdeveloped, but it does let the curtain rise on productions that would otherwise remain locked away in the dark.

Naylah Ahmed’s faithful adaptation pulls no surprises. We all know the story, which is its selling point, along with the two names in the cast – Penelope Keith and Brian Blessed who play the ghosts of Christmas Past and Present respectively. Keith displays her signature imperious disdain for the unreformed Scrooge with a deadpan, but slightly apologetic, sense of humour (“I am not a sir, sir!”), while Blessed’s distinctly unapologetic performance plays up to his own caricature. They are both a formidable and colourful presence. Jim Findley, as Ebenezer Scrooge, fails to react accordingly, and doesn’t seem to be too distraught that his night is disturbed by these uninvited and foreboding spirits.

Rallying round, though, are the three multi-rolling cast members who pick up the remaining characters. Robin Morrissey’s versatility leapfrogs from his Jacob Marley to Bob Cratchitt to Mr Fezziwig with ease, accompanied by the sparkly eyed Paula James as Mrs Cratchitt, Fezziwig and others. Paula James, along with Lucy Pearson, who has her own hamper full of characters, bring a lightness of touch to what is a fairly stolid and dependable narration.

Despite the commitment of the cast, they seem unsure as to who the audience is. Director Natasha Rickman seems to be steering them, perhaps against their will, towards a younger crowd. The sense of enjoyment is prevalent but at the expense of the magic and awe that this tale should inspire. The show features children from the Guildford Shakespeare Company’s drama clubs, in rotation, as the Cratchitt children, and it is a delight to see the relish with which the three young ensemble cast dive into their roles.

The spirit of Christmas present may have taken a holiday this year, and while this show doesn’t quite lure it back, it does remind us of our Christmases past and give us hope for those yet to come. But we want to toast the future with effervescence and this ‘Christmas Carol’ doesn’t have the sparkling warmth to uplift us fully. But ‘Humbug’ to that. The run is already sold out online so don’t listen to this old Scrooge.

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Ciaran Walsh

A Christmas Carol

Online via Jermyn Street Theatre and Guildford Shakespeare Company until 27th December

Previously reviewed by Jonathan:

Marry me a Little | ★★★★ | Online | November 2020

Rent | ★★★★★ | Online | November 2020

Right Left With Heels | ★★★★ | Online | November 2020

Ute Lemper: Rendezvous With Marlene | ★★★★★ | Online | November 2020

Salon | ★★★ | Century Club | December 2020

The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk | ★★★★ | Online | December 2020

The Dumb Waiter | ★★★★ | Hampstead Theatre | December 2020

The Pirates Of Penzance | ★★★★★ | Palace Theatre | December 2020

The Elf Who Was Scared of Christmas | ★★★★ | Charing Cross Theatre | December 2020

Snow White in the Seven Months of Lockdown | ★★★★★ | Online | December 2020

Click here to see our most recent reviews

★★★★

“the audience feels involved in the lives of these characters right from the start”

Past Perfect is a play about memory. It is a short, but effective script that explores a relationship between two people. It plays on the idea that we never quite remember the past as it actually happened, and when one partner has difficulty keeping track of time anyway, the stage is set for some lively disagreements about what happened on the day Gary met Nell, and the story of their relationship thereafter. As an additional complication, playwright Philip Holt presents us with three characters, two of them representing the memories of the woman Aurelia/Nell unfolding both in the time of the relationship, and as she remembers it looking back. The title Past Perfect is also a pun, referring not just to the way the characters might remember the past, but as a nod to the man, Gary’s, obsession with Latin verbs. As Gary and Nell skirmish over differing accounts of their imperfect present, can they reach a place where their memories can agree on a perfect past?

The performance is an agreeable way to spend forty minutes; it is not a profound play, but it is thoughtful entertainment, and it is also a good vehicle for talented performers. Patricia Magno, who plays the older Aurelia/Nell; Bethan Cullinane, playing the younger; and Robin Morrissey, who plays Gary, have plenty of opportunities to show the audience what they can do, and they make the most of them. They handle the opening monologues and rapid interrupting between characters not unlike tennis players deftly batting a ball back and forth. Undeterred by the small size of the playing space, and the closeness of the audience, they are also fearless in their use of direct address. The result is that the audience feels involved in the lives of these characters right from the start, and that interest continues right up to the moment where playwright Holt delivers a final, shocking, twist.

With a compact set cleverly designed by Amy Rose Mitchell, consisting of free standing flats decorated with clocks, and with skillful direction by Fred Gray, Etcetera Theatre’s production of Past Perfect gives an overall sense of time well spent in the theatre.

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer