A Christmas Carol - Theatre performance

Recently, we watched a performance of “A Christmas Carol”; by Charles Dickens. The actors were very professional and well-rehearsed, playing every stave and scene with little flaw. The performance was highly immersive with the actors’ loud and projected voices, but also with their incredible acting skills and memory - they had to remember every word, character, line and role between the three of them! They also seamlessly changed from scene to scene and character to character, only taking a few seconds to switch to vastly different roles, whether it be backstage changing or switching of hats or jackets onstage to progress the performance with almost no delay. They were also able to adjust their body language, tone, volume and emotions depending on the character they were portraying being able to go from upbeat and lively to quite monotonous and cynical which would usually take a good amount of time to settle into the next character. The characters were also very distinguishable and you would be able to recognise them easily later.

The set consisted of two door frames with walls and coat hooks, and a projector was used to show the transition between staves and showed things like the clock and snowfall. The minimalistic design of the set made it appropriate for all of the scenes from a bustling party with Fezziwig to a nice dinner with the Cratchits. The props used always had a purpose, whether it was a hat and scarf to portray the cold outside or a fake roast goose to transport you to the scene it was never out of place and there was always a reason why. They had a talent for ensuring the audience saw the similarity of the play to the original book. One way they did this was by only using direct quotes from the original story. Overall, it was engaging and successful with the viewers as they clearly showed that even with only three people they were able to easily make a stunning rendition of the classic!

Tomiwa, Rohan, Harry and Oliver