Chain gang: Marley’s Ghost (played by Steve Jacobs) points Scrooge in a new direction
As the country slides into the kind of social division not seen since Victorian times, Theatre Workshop Coulsdon has a new production of a Dickens classic that shows we really ought to do better. KEN TOWL went along to see for himself
Look familiar?: from the cover of TWC’s latest, socially aware production
This radical production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol sets out its stall early.
There is something about the programme that looks very familiar. That clock, frozen in time, just before, we suppose, the start of Christmas Day, is remarkably similar to the Croydon Clocktower that looms over our Town Hall.
As the lettering suggests, “The past is forfeit, the future is in peril, the present is in the balance. All that matters is now”.
At the bottom of the programme, we see why it matters: this production is “supporting the Purley Food Hub”. The deprivation, the poverty and the parsimony of those with power and resources, all these things that Dickens railed against are with us still. All that matters is now.
This opened on Saturday and is a sophisticated and dynamic production that plays confidently with the element of time throughout. The engaging double act of Joe Wilson and Daisy Worby as, respectively, Dickens and his friend John Forster, add context to the contents of the play.
Playing with time: Joe Wilson (Dickens/Young Scrooge, left) and Daisy Worby (Forster/Young Marley) keep Bruce Montgomery, as Scrooge, in context
Dickens, we are told, is planning to write a political pamphlet on poverty. Forster suggests that he do what he does best and write a novel that will be read in ages to come. Wilson and Worby also play Young Scrooge and Young Marley, allowing them to step on and off the stage and add layers to the action.
Central to this production, inevitably, is the portrayal of Scrooge. Will the actor lean into Patrick Stewart, Michael Caine, Albert Finney or any of the other stars of screen and stage who have played the miser?
Bruce Montgomery plays him relatively straight and, though no Alistair Sim, brings depth to a deeply flawed yet human anti-hero. This is no easy cartoon version. Montgomery’s Scrooge is a mean old curmudgeon, to be sure, but no monster. He doesn’t hate Christmas, he simply does not see the point of it. His understated delivery of “Do I look remotely like I need blessing?” sets a subtle tone early on.
His first ghostly experience, a visit from his long-dead business partner Jacob Marley, allows him to espouse his worldview, encapsulated in his averring that he should not be expected to pay out of his hard-earned money for the feckless and the idle. It all sounds wearily familiar.
Party time: Paul Ford (centre) as Fezziwig, ‘All high camp and bonhomie, Ford… [was] upstaged only by the array of pies, rib of beef and cheeses that decorated the tables’
A repeated trope is the graveyard and Scrooge’s realisation that life is fleeting and that we should appreciate our families and friends while we can. Montgomery’s Scrooge grows as a result of his ghostly experiences to enjoy a redemption, and the audience applause at the end of the curtain call reflected that.
Mention should go, too, to a Bernard Cribbins-like Fezziwig, Paul Ford’s genial counterpoint to Montgomery’s Scrooge. All high camp and bonhomie, Ford dominated the ensemble party scene, upstaged only by the array of pies, rib of beef and cheeses that decorated the tables (and explained to why no fewer than 10 names appeared in the programme under the title “fake food stylist”).
It was heartening, also, to see so many younger actors in supporting roles and they acquitted themselves well, a sign that drama in Coulsdon has a healthy future.
Hannah Montgomery plays Mrs Cratchit as the the conscience of the play and manages to deliver overtly political dialogue that could look clumsy if delivered by a lesser actor. It is to her credit – and to the tone and setting of the play as a whole – that she is able to drive the radical message of the play home, that “the world wouldn’t stop turning if we had a little more and you had a little less”.
He’s just a poor boy, from a poor family: Harry Simon as Tiny Tim, Paul Ford as Ghost of Christmas Present, Fran Auletta as Martha Cratchit and Oli Worby as Bob Cratchit appear to recreate the video of Bohemian Rhapsody
What I saw wasn’t perfect; there seemed to be a few first-night nerves and glitches as the furniture occasionally got in the way of the actors. The stand-alone door frame dividing Scrooge from Bob Cratchit caused more trouble than it was worth, but it was an accomplished performance overall that gave its audience spectacle and carols and humour and plenty to think about.
As a coda, on the way home, I crossed Wellesley Road using the underpass. There were five people camping down for the night and it was cold. There are those whose response would be that they probably deserve their fate.
Maybe they would benefit from a visit from Marley and the others.
Theatre Workshop Coulsdon performs at the Coulsdon Community Centre, Barrie Close, Chipstead Valley Road. The 166 bus stops nearby.
- Performances resume at 7.45pm on Wednesday, and continue through to Saturday, with matinees on Saturday and Sunday.
- Tickets are available at twcoulsdon.org.uk or on the door. Collections and food donations are being made at each performance for the Purley Food Hub, an emergency food bank for local people facing hardship during a time of crisis
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