Venue | BAC (Battersea Arts Centre) |
Other spaces: Studios 1, 2 and 3 | |
Town | Inner London |
County | Greater London |
From | 1st December 2000 |
Opened | 6th December 2000 |
To | 20th January 2001 |
When | Tues-Sun 19:30, Sun 17:30, Mats - Dec 16, 23, 30, Jan 6, 13, 20 at 15:00 |
What is currently on at BAC (Battersea Arts Centre) (V168) |
The venue is a small black box acting space with a clear floor and some odd bits and pieces to suggest a Dickensian context. The first suprise is to find a cast of over 30 filling the space - and they really good fill it, moving with an assurance that prevented traffic jams and collisions and allowed them to create impressive displays and movement.
The hauntings were well presented and the use of puppetry added an extra dimension, especially to Marley's ghost - a very impressive sight, well handled.
Some tweaks to the story allowed it to be told as enacted narrative with Scrooge's nephew acting as the storyteller - this worked well though the resolution between the real and told stories doesn't bear too close an inspection - but by that time your being swept along by the confident singing and staging and the excellent individual performances of William Maxwell (Scrooge), Bill Ward (Nephew), Martin Fletcher (Bob Cratchit) and others. The children performed well, keeping up with the pace and presentation of their elders and there er some nice set pieces such as stripping Ebenezer's corpse.
If you go to see this keep an eye (and ear) out for the ensemble - whilst the action is going on they are always concentrating and providing credible off-line acting, even their rhubarb banter is appropriate and in keeping. Unusual discipline. 4
Company | BAC |
Company | The Steam Industry |
Adapted by | Phil Willmott |
Director | Phil Willmott |
Director | Annemarie Lewis Thomas (music) |
Design | Full Cry |
Choreographer | Jack Gunn |
Costume | Andri Korniotis |
Performer | Stuart Piper (Young Scrooge) |
Performer | William Maxwell (Scrooge) |
Performer | Bill Ward (Scrooge's Nephew / The Narrator) |
Performer | Livy Armstrong (Mr Feziwig) |
Performer | Tom Murphy (A Charitable Gentelman) |
Performer | George Richmond Scott (The Reverend Pollet) |
Performer | Martin Fletcher (Bob Cratchit) |
Performer | Matthew Daines (Alec) |
Performer | Joanna Kirkland (Laura) |
Performer | Amanda Gleave (Eleanor - wife of Scrooge's nephew) |
Performer | Rosie Matthews (Estella) |
Performer | Francesca Charalambous (Estella) |
Performer | Ruya Niazi (Nell) |
Performer | Jade Regan (Nell) |
Performer | James Hendrickson (Oliver) |
Performer | Alex Graham (Oliver) |
Performer | Oliver Watson (Pip) |
Performer | Jordan Regan (Pip) |
Performer | Robert Kostur (Davey) |
Performer | Jack Cooper (Davey) |
Performer | Tim Stacey (Albert - footman) |
Performer | Sarah Pearman (Elsie - maid) |
Performer | Sally Plumb (Cook) |
Performer | Joe Hill (Stepfather to young Scrooge) |
Performer | Audrey Leybourne (Mrs Feziwig) |
Performer | Lindsay Cutter (Belle Feziwig) |
Performer | Robin Armstrong (Upperclass Man) |
Performer | Bea Holland (Upperclass Woman) |
Performer | Nicola Delaney (Mrs Cratchit) |
Performer | Lucie Collins (Martha Cratchit) |
Performer | Jack Cooper (Tiny Tim) |
Performer | Robert Kostur (Tiny Tim) |
Performer | Gary O'Sullivan (A Lighthouse Keeper) |
Performer | Jane Lucas (Peg) |
Performer | Kylie Butler (Neighbour) |
Performer | Tracy Kashi (Neighbour) |
Performer | Lynn Lomas (Neighbour) |
Performer | Lynsey Sugarman (Neighbour) |