Window of opportunity: Alice Pryor’s Nella Racksole, Thomas Cotran’s Prince Aribert of Posen, centre, and Bill Champion’s Theodore Racksole. Picture: Andrew Billington
CONRAD Nelson. Deborah McAndrew. Bill Champion. All are names familiar to Yorkshire theatre audiences past and present, but what of Arnold Bennett?
He is as much a part of the Potteries as Nelson and McAndrew’s Stoke-on-Trent company Claybody Theatre, but for all his 34 novels, 13 plays, seven volumes of short stories, several self-help books, screenplays and stories for more than 100 newspapers and periodicals, he may be best known for the Omelette Arnold Bennett, the creamy one with gruyere cheese, smoked fish and béchamel sauce, invented in his name by chef Jean Baptiste Virlogeux while he was staying at The Savoy in 1929 to write his 1930 book Imperial Palace.
Bennett loved The Savoy – his second home – and hotel culture at large, a love expressed in his 1902 “rollicking comedy thriller” The Grand Babylon Hotel (based on The Savoy, apparently).
Alice Pryor’s Nella Racksole and Thomas Cotran’s Prince Aribert of Posen take to the water in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington
Thrice turned into a film, in 1914, 1916 and1920 (in Germany), now it is transformed into a theatrical whirl of a murder mystery drama in the spruce yet madcap style of Patrick Barlow’s reinvention of The 39 Steps, replete with fabulously attired, flamboyant characters, dextrous movement and dance-step interludes, sleight-of-hand role shifts and equally fast costume, accent and location changes on a rising tide of physical comedy and mentally adroit twists and turns.
Co-artistic director Nelson’s touring cast for McAndrew’s wizard, whizzing Jazz Age stage adaptation adds Stephen Joseph Theatre favourite Bill Champion to four players from last autumn’s premiere at the New Vic.
Champion, cigar seemingly forever betwixt his lips, is playing American railroad billionaire Theodore Racksole, whose demanding daughter, Nella (Alice Pryor), wants filleted steak and Bass beer for her birthday treat.
Michael Hugo’s Ticket Collector in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington
However, as supercilious maitre d’hotel Jules (Michael Hugo) explains, they are not on Italian chef Rocco’s menu at London’s exclusive Grand Babylon Hotel.
Whereupon Theodore buys the chef, the kitchen, the hotel, lock, stock and barrel of unexpected problems. Big mistake? When Reginald Dimmock (Thomas Cotran) keels over, murder is followed by the kidnapping of Nella.
McAndrew stirs myriad characters into the melting pot, even inventing one, German Nanny Heidi (one of four roles for Shelley Atkinson, including fierce hotel worker Miss Spencer, who may really be Baroness Zerlinski).
Shelley Atkinson’s Nanny Heidi in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington
Thomas Cotran, who you have seen in Mikron Theatre shows, flits between three roles, the unfortunate Dimmock, the heel-clicking German Prince Aribert of Posen and knife-wielding, moustachioed Italian head chef Rocco, having particular fun with the latter.
They are joined in McAndrew’s trio of “clowns” by Michael Hugo, once a fixture in Northern Broadsides productions, and still as elastic and electric in his comic tomfoolery, stealing scene after scene like acts of daylight “rubbery”.
He plays a sextet of roles, each with a different accent, rhythm of speech, manner of movement, whether the alarming Jules, the dastardly Tom Jackson, the Cockney detective Marshall, the Porter or the hypochondriac Prince Eugen of Posen.
Most amusing of all is his growling French ticket collector, fag in mouth, playing tricks on the audience members when asking them to hold a boarding rope. In Tom Jackson mode, aboard a boat, he even asks “beefy John” from the front row to take over the wheel. You won’t see a comic tour de force to rival Hugo on a Yorkshire stage this year, whether leaping into a basket or being thrown around like a rag doll when Prince Eugen is assumed to be dead.
Lis Evans’s costumes are a playful delight, while her open-plan set design can be adapted for differing venues, letting the cast do the heavy lifting in conveying locations, such as when Champion’s Theodore mimes his journey of discovery through the hotel’s unseen interior, banging his head three times on thin air!
Champion and Pryor play it straight while still playing off the crazed comic energy of Atkinson, Cotran and especially Hugo as Nelson’s direction judges the pacing perfectly, each scene surpassing the last.
James Atherton’s compositions, Daniella Beattie’s lighting and floor projections, Damian Coldwell’s sound design and Beverley Norris-Edmunds’ movement direction and choreography all play their part in making The Grand Babylon Hotel so swish and stylish, topped off by Nick Haverson’s physical comedy direction.
Nelson’s cast uses the assets of the SJT’s in-the-round structure to the max, from Champion delivering monologues from the stairways to the three entry points being in constant use. No doubt, the show will adapt to Harrogate Theatre’s classical proscenium arch next month with equal elan.
Wherever you choose to go to see Champion, Atkinson, Cotran, Pryor and Hugo in particular, book now.
Claybody Theatre in The Grand Babylon Hotel, Stephen Joseph Theatre, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee; Harrogate Theatre, April 1 to 4, 7.30pm and 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: Scarborough,01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
Claybody Theatre’s poster for The Grand Babylon Hotel
Alice Pryor, back row, left, Bill Champion, Shelley Atkinson, Thomas Cotran, front row, left, and Michael Hugo in Claybody Theatre’s The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington
CLAYBODY Theatre are heading to Scarborough and Harrogate with Deborah McAndrew’s stage adaptation of Arnold Bennett’s 1902 rollicking comedy thriller The Grand Babylon Hotel.
The Stoke-on-Trent company’s co-artistic director Conrad Nelson directs Shelley Atkinson, Thomas Cotran, Michael Hugo, Alice Pryor and Bill Champion in Bennett’s tale of Nella Racksole discovering steak and beer are not on the Grand Babylon Hotel menu for her birthday treat, whereupon her American Railroad millionaire father obligingly buys the chef, the kitchen, the hotel.
However, Theodore Racksole soon finds more on his plate than a juicy steak, with kidnapping and murder for starters. Have Theodore and Nella bitten off more than they can chew?
Conrad left the artistic director’s role at Northern Broadsides in 2018, the same year that Deborah wrote her last play for the Halifax company. The couple headed off to the Potteries, establishing Claybody Theatre and forging links with the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme, their partners for The Grand Babylon Hotel, whose tour arrives at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tomorrow. Harrogate Theatre awaits from April 1 to 4.
Here director Conrad and writer Deborah discuss comedy styles, touring, Bennett’s stories and the need for silliness in 2026.
What inspired you to take your work on the road?
Conrad: “It’s a first for Claybody, but not for us as artists. It’s been an ambition for the company for some time, and of course we have a history of touring with previous companies.But also, we were heavily encouraged by fellow artists, artistic directors, theatres and other supporters who will often travel to Stoke-on-Trent to see us.”
Deborah: “When you’re adapting a piece, the material often invites a certain type of treatment. I always knew that this novel would respond best to a small cast, multi-rolling, narrative storytelling, hat swapping, comic playing…in the style of [Patrick Barlow’s] The 39 Steps. Therefore, it’s portable. One of the first things I said was: ‘I think this could tour’.”
Playwright Deborah McAndrew
How did this tour take shape, Deborah?
“We approached the New Vic and said, ‘Do you fancy making this show with us?’ and they said ‘yes’. So we did the show there in the autumn, and we acquired funding from Arts Council England for a short tour, with the plan being to run it at The Dipping House in Stoke and then take it on the road to Hull, Scarborough, Colchester and Harrogate.”
Why tour this 1902 Arnold Bennett story in Deborah’s adaption now?
Conrad: “It’s a great introduction for people who haven’t been to the theatre before or haven’t been for a while; it’s a popular piece of well-crafted, high-quality theatre, which will speak to pretty much anyone, and that’s what theatres are wanting and needing right now to fill their auditorium.”
Deborah: “It’s something that can be absolutely billed as a comedy. People want to be entertained, they want light relief, and it’s the job of those of us who work in the arts to bring relief, distraction and enjoyment. As well as to enlighten, expose and discuss.
“The scales too often weigh heavily on the worthy side of the work, and actually, we must remember the value of the arts in lifting people’s hearts, bringing them together with other human beings to have an experience which makes them more fortified to go out and tackle their lives and the world outside – which at the moment is full of uncertainty, anxiety, violence and concern.
“Going out there with a comedy is right for the times, right for the audience and absolutely right for what we need to do with Claybody right now.”
Stephen Joseph Theatre favourite Bill Champion in the role of Theodore Racksole. Picture: Andrew Billington
To those new to Claybody Theatre’s work, how would you describe the style of this show?
Conrad: “It’s billed as a ‘rollicking comedy thriller’, and we’d invite audiences to come with an open heart, an open mind, and just be ready to be entertained. Within the rollicking comedy, there is real quality; it’s accessible and it’s fun.
“It’s driven by the thing that audiences love most; creativity with actors. We’re making this work with a lot of love, and it’s for the audience, not for ourselves. That’s critical in the way that we make work; how is it going to be received? How is it going to charm, affect, cheer? Without the audience, we are nowhere.”
Deborah: “The characters are warm and likeable, even the dastardly villain is somebody you want to be in the room with. There’s a lovely warmth and charm about these actors that we’re working with as well. They’re people who you want to spend an evening with and have a laugh with.”
Which character did you enjoy writing most and why, Deborah?
“Well, I like funny voices! That’s probably the actor in me. Nanny Heidi is not in the book – I would say, her, because she’s brilliantly performed by Shelley Atkinson, who knows how to do that size of characterisation. And the very ridiculous Frenchman who’s on the boats, which was written by me, and Conrad and Mike Hugo just run with it.”
How would you describe Claybody Theatre’s connection with the audience, Conrad?
“The audience are the whole reason to exist, from the start of the writing into rehearsals, it is a participatory event, and it’s grounded in that. We keep that connection at the forefront of everything we do.
“Deborah had the idea that this show should be an actor–driven piece that would be ideal to tour. All the cast have a fantastic synergy with the audience, establishing that wonderful connection that makes people want to see them again. They are magical performers; it’s not every actor’s gift to be a communicator, but our cast are just really good at delivering the text. It’s a bit of a romp but done with such high quality.”
Thomas Cotran and Alice Pryor in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington
What draws you to Arnold Bennett’s writing, Deborah, having done Anna Of The Five Towns for the New Vic before the pandemic and The Card in 2022?
“He has brilliant female characters, I really love his women, they feel very real. He writes about characters that I want to spend time with.
“They’re a bit more caricatured in The Grand Babylon Hotel, because it’s a pot-boiler; he wrote it for pure entertainment in serial form. But when you get into his more literary works, like Anna Of The Five Towns, or The Old Wives Tale, you get these complex and interesting characters, particularly female characters.
“His stories respond very well to being transferred to the stage with all these great characters, and when we’re looking for stories to do with Claybody that are related to the Potteries, his work stands out.
“But also when we’ve been asked by our friends at Hull [Truck Theatre], Harrogate and Scarborough, ‘did we have anything we could take there’, it’s expensive to tour, but I thought Bennett’s storytelling would respond to a small cast.”
On tour, how does each theatre space shape the way you tell the story, Conrad?
“Well, the space does really tell the story. You come in, and you play the space that you’ve got. You look at the merits of the space and then play it.
“In the conversion to thrust, in-the-round in Scarborough, and then a traditional proscenium arch space like Harrogate, it doesn’t matter where you see it from, the stage has to feel deep, otherwise you get very flat performances.
Michael Hugo’s Ticket Collector in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington
“So you respond to the size and intimacy of space, and that’s also to do with the actors’ experience. When the actors come in on the morning, they have to convert their performance extremely quickly. It’s exciting, it gives it a bit of frisson!
“If you come and see it on the first night, you’ll get that lovely energy of actors figuring out what it sounds like. Because you can open your mouth in a different space and it sounds completely different; that’s part of the director’s job to make sure that you’re telling the actor truthfully how it plays.”
Why is it important to create shows that celebrate silliness these days?
Conrad: “I think that’s partly to do with what audiences respond to. You can do a really well crafted, difficult piece of theatre, and then somebody puts on a hat and does a f*rt gag and it gets the biggest response of the evening.
“So we like a bit of bonkers, a bit of eccentricity, you just have to look around on any high street and you will see it in spades. People are anything but dull and characterless. And given the right motivation, we all love a bit of nuts.”
Deborah: “Comedy has always been used as a tool of anarchy. We use comedy to undermine some of the power that people have; it’s being used as a weapon across the world right now, isn’t it? Comedy helps us get through dark times.
“The Grand Babylon Hotel is silly and easy to go with, and hopefully people who might be feeling a bit down, or don’t feel like coming out the theatre, will actually be glad they did. They might get their tank topped up a bit in terms of resilience because I think that’s what comedy can do for us.”
Shelley Atkinson’s Nanny Heidi: the character that Deborah McAndrew most enjoyed writing in her script for The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington
How does the cast share out the parts in The Grand Babylon Hotel, Deborah?
“We have the two American central characters, Theodore and Nella, then three multi-rolling clowns playing everybody else, including the gang of villains. It feels very modern. Bennett was writing at the turn of the [20th] century, so it’s late-Victorian, but feels Edwardian, and we’ve lifted it to ten years later than that.
“Only two characters are American. They’re staying at the Grand Babylon Hotel in London, modelled on The Savoy – Bennett loved that hotel , and of course The Savoy has its famous Arnold Bennett Omelette [created for the novelist in 1929 with its combination of smoked haddock, Gruyère cheese and béchamel sauce].
“The characters are mostly English but there’s also a fake Russian, a Belgian too. I’ve had lots of fun with French, German and Italian characters where I’ve added the actual language, but done in a way that the audience will be able to understand.”
How would you sum up the reaction to the show so far?
Deborah: “What really tells you how they feel is the comments on our Facebook pages, where the response has been chock-full of people saying they’ve been laughing all the way through. Ninety-nine per cent have said they’ve really loved it, and felt they really needed a play like this time when the world is so full of anxieties. This show affirms our humanity, our connectedness, as we laugh together.
“We’re very proud of this show, taking great pleasure in listening to the audience, feeling the warmth in the room.”
Conrad: “That’s the key. As much as attention to detail is important in our work, we are making the show for our audience, not for ourselves. That’s why we still make theatre: that connection between the artist and the audience.”
Claybody Theatre, The Grand Babylon Hotel, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 18 to 21,7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees; Harrogate Theatre, April 1 to 4, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee. Box office: Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
In the shadows: Michael Hugo in The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington
Winter gruel charges: The Pick Me Up Theatre ensemble in Oliver Twist
BILLED as “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist”, Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s turbulent tale of courage in adversity was first staged in Yorkshire as Hull Truck Theatre’s Christmas show in 2018.
Yes, ‘Christmas show’, as it comes booted with snippets of Victorian carols, folk tunes and John Biddle compositions. It is not a musical, and definitely not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, instead being a storytelling piece of theatre with music as an Greek chorus-style ensemble commentary and complement to the unfolding drama.
Producer Robert Readman’s set is dominated by a huge bridge, on a diagonal across the stage that divides the audience into a traverse configuration, used traditionally to heighten a sense of combat or conflict.
Helen Spencer’s Fagin in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist
There would be no taking sides here, however, as everyone will be rooting for young Oliver Twist (Logan Willstrop, sharing performances with Frankie Whitford).
Born in a workhouse to a mother who loses her life, Oliver takes a 70-mile journey to London and is sold into an apprenticeship before being recruited by Fagin’s band of pickpockets and thieves as he sinks into London’s grimy underworld in his search for a home, a family and love.
Readman encloses Theatre@41’s black box Studio in wooden frames with a series of cloth “windows”, making the Victorian milieu all the more claustrophobic and imposing – and be warmed, look out for what will emerge through the cloth, even a Punch & Judy show.
The man in black: James Willstrop’s Bill Sikes casts his shadow over Oliver Twist
As ever with McAndrew, she combines well-sketched characterisation with detailed, evocative, fast-moving storytelling.
Hull Truck’s Fagin, my dears, was a woman, played by Flo Wilson. In Pick Me Up’s version, the thief chief is still performed by a woman, the show’s director Helen Spencer, but her Fagin is still referred to as “he”.
Spencer, who has had another splendid year astride the York stage, deepens her mezzo-soprano a tad, takes on a heavier physicality within a rags-and-riches coat and has something of the night about her. Having had to miss the first two performances with a “lost voice” she has certainly found it a terrific lead performance.
Playwright Deborah McAndrew
Jennie Wogan-Wells’s abused Nancy is striving against the odds to make her way in a male-dominated world, her light snuffed out by the brutal darkness around her.
Logan Willstrop’s Oliver is full of expression, resilience and enquiry, while the ever-reliable Tracey Rea and Nick Sephton are amusing company as the besotted Widow Corney and Mr Bumble, albeit that Sephton’s towering Bumble has his darker side too, as he slams his cane against the floor with a thunderous thud.
Neil Foster is on contrasting double duty, as the exploitative Mr Sowerberry and the kindly Mr Brownlow, and likewise Rhian Wells makes her mark as Mrs Sowerberry and Mrs Bedwin.
Matthew Warry, one of York’s best developing young talents, is in typically fine form as the cocky Noah Claypole, while Rich Musk’s cuts the mustard as Dr Grimwig.
Neil Foster’s Mr Brownlow in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist
As with Hull Truck’s production, the Artful Dodger is still called “Jack” but is played here by both a lass, Libby Greenhill, and a lad, Reuben Baines, splitting performances. Your reviewer saw Greenhill: a Chaplinesque figure with comic timing and plenty of pluck.
Young Logan is not the only Willstrop in Pick Me Up’s cast. His father James is a tall, gaunt, black of heart, black of coat, pock-marked Bill Sikes: darker still than his Frederick Frankenstein in Readman’s production of Young Frankenstein in September last year.
Matthew Peter Clare leads the musical forces with typical dash and Spencer directs with drive and focus with excellent use of ensemble as well as individual expression in her principals. All in all, a Dickens of a good show.
Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Performances at 7.30pm, December 27, 28 and 30, plus Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Tracey Rea’s Widow Corney and Nick Sephton’s Mr Bumble in Oliver Twist
Helen Spencer’s Fagin in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
IN a new twist, the opening of Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, is being delayed by a day through cast illness.
All being well, the curtain will now rise on the York company’s winter production on Wednesday night.
At the show’s helm both on stage and off is Helen “Bells” Spencer, who is not only playing Fagin in Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel, but also has taken over the director’s seat from producer and designer Robert Readman five weeks ago.
“Robert started rehearsals while I was still rehearsing Last Five Years [Black Sheep Theatre Productions and Wharfemede Productions’ November musical at the NCEM], so I wasn’t available until that was over, and then, after a while, he asked me to step in, taking over his vision.
“I’ve worked with Robert a lot over the last couple of years, so I know how his mind works. When Pick Me Up had to pull the original dates for Young Frankenstein, I took over the reins with Andrew Isherwood to re-mount the production, but this is a slightly different situation from that one, as we’re still working to Robert’s ideas.
Playwright Deborah McAndrew
“We have a lot of mutual respect, so I can crack on, but it’s certainly a challenge that so many young people are in it. We have two ‘teams’: two Olivers, two Dodgers, two Roses, two Bets and ‘Children’s’ roles too; there are about 12 young people in all, ranging from eight to 17, so I’m working with a big age differences in the young cast.”
Not to be confused with Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, McAndrew’s stage adaptation “on the surface looks like an easy show, but it’s definitely not,” says Helen. “It’s incredibly complex, and one of the things that makes it harder is that no-one knows the songs in the way they do with Oliver! – and there are no recordings, bar for one song.”
Devised at the Bolton Octagon and staged at Hull Truck Theatre in December 2018 as “a new version of Oliver with a festive twist!”, McAndrew’s adaptation is an ensemble piece. “There’s a Greek-style chorus commenting on what’s happening and actors taking on different roles, so it’s quite a different way of working to what most people are used to in musical theatre,” says Helen.
“It’s not like coming on, singing a solo and going off, so the logistics have been more complex, especially when you have no familiarity with the score. I feel like what we got was the script and the basic score and we’ve tried to create our version with the actors we have and the musicians we have.
“I’m really glad I haven’t seen it before as we just want to do a version that makes sense to us, with the core adult cast pulling together to create the ensemble, and some of the adversity we’ve experienced has worked to our advantage.”
Into the dark: James Willstrop’s Bill Sikes
Readman has designed the set with a bridge across the stage. “We’ve been lucky to get into the theatre early enough to work on the show with the set in place. It will look fantastic, very atmospheric, and not what people might expect at all,” says Helen.
“The show will have Christmassy moments but it will have a darkness to it too to allow characters like James Willstrop’s Bill Sikes to be really horrible, which has been a real joy in rehearsals.
“When you think of actors like James, Jennie Wogan-Wells [who plays Nancy] and me, we’re very happy to do musical theatre, with James as the classic leading man, Jennie as the bright-eyed leading lady, and me doing comic parts, so I think people will be surprised to see us in these darker roles – though I used to do straight acting roles before musical theatre and I always enjoyed playing serious parts.”
Helen will play Fagin, who runs a band of pickpockets and thieves in London’s grimy Victorian underworld, where Oliver is the new recruit in his search for a home, family and love. “I suppose the most obvious thing to say is that I’m a female and the original was not,” she says.
“We had a discussion about whether I should play it as a woman, or a women playing a man, and we decided to lean into being a female taking on a male part, so all the references are still to ‘he’ and ‘him’. I’m playing him as an old man.
Tracey Rea’s Widow Corney and Nick Sephton’s Mr Bumble in a scene from Pick Me Up Theatre’s Oliver Twist
“We decided to see how it would feel, and it does feel right. The way the script has been written, it is right to do it this way, rather than make it wholly appropriate to a woman. It’s so exciting to play a male character, which I would never do normally.
“To have the chance to do that, having a face-off and a bit of fisticuffs with Sikes, it’s so liberating, even though he’s an older, frailer man, because if you were an older woman you wouldn’t deliver it that way.”
Describing the music, Helen says: “What strikes me is that they’re not conventional songs; they are more conversational songs, no big numbers, but there are a couple of fun chorus bits. It’s very much about creating the atmosphere in the scenes, rather than through big numbers and big choreography.
“What we need is the actors’ expertise because the songs are difficult and the text is difficult, and that’s been a challenge for even our most experienced cast members, but everyone has risen to it.”
Pick Me Up Theatre in Oliver Twist, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, December 18 to 30, 7.30pm, except December 23 to 26 and 29; Saturday and Sunday matinees, 2.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Who’s in Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast for Oliver Twist?
Frankie Whitford: Playing Oliver Twist in Oliver Twist at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York
Oliver Twist – Frankie Whitford/Logan Willstrop; Fagin – Helen Spencer; Mr Bumble – Nick Sephton; Widow Corney – Tracey Rea; Mr Sowerberry and Mr Brownlow – Neil Foster; Mrs Sowerberry and Mrs Bedwin – Rhian Wells; Noah Claypole – Matthew Warry; Charlotte Sowerberry – Ruby Salter; Artful Dodger – Libby Greenhill/Reuben Baines; Nancy – Jennie Wogan-Wells; Bill Sikes – James Willstrop; Bet – Rosie Musk/Tempi Singhateh; Rose – Isla Whitford/Rosie Musk; Dr Grimwig – Rich Musk; Children – Lao Singhateh, Matilda Foster, Tempi Singhateh and Bea Wells.
Adam Bassett’s Bob Cratchit, Emma Prendergast’s Mrs Cratchit and the Cratchit children in the Christmas spirit in Hull Truck Theatre’s A Christmas Carol
DEBORAH McAndrew’s wondrous, thunderous adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1843 novella was first seen as part of Hull Truck’s 2017 Year of Exceptional Drama for Hull’s year as the UK’s City of Culture.
“Exceptional drama”? As brags go, it might have been up there with Liverpool lip Ian McCulloch proclaiming Echo & The Bunnymen’s 1984 opus Ocean Rain to be “the greatest record ever made”… before it even came out, but A Christmas Carol backed up that braggadocio.
It was indeed “exceptional”, going on to play West Yorkshire Playhouse the next winter, again under Amy Leach’s direction, and subsequently re-emerging like Marley’s ghost each winter in a variety of versions.
Deborah McAndrew: Playwright with the magic touch
When it came to artistic director Mark Babych contemplating Hull Truck’s 50th anniversary season, in his words, “it felt the perfect opportunity in a year of examining our past, present and future to combine the many different elements that evolved over the years to make this production”.
A Christmas Carol is duly revisited, in association with Leeds Playhouse, retaining McAndrew’s gilded script, Hayley Grindle’s set and costume design, Josh Carr’s lighting, Ed Clarke’s sound design and musical director John Biddle’s evocative music. Northern Broadsides stalwart Andrew Whitehead returns too as chain-rattling deceased business partner Jacob Marley and party-hosting Mr Fezziwig.
Sameena Hussain, associate director at Leeds Playhouse, takes over the director’s seat from Leach, having served as her associate on the Leeds production.
Emma Prendergast’s Mrs Cratchit, left, Adam Bassett’s Bob Cratchit, right, and Hull Truck Young Company cast members using British Sign Language in A Christmas Carol
She retains much of what made Leach-McAndrew’s exhilaratingly imaginative collaboration so spooky, humorous and magical, while adding two new elements: movement direction by Xolani Crabtree, at once full of vitality but haunting too, and British Sign Language, both within the cast and in the omnipresence of a BSL signer in Dickensian attire. Providing another layer of language, it is impactful physically, theatrically and emotionally too.
Hull-born Adam Bassett, who appeared as Macduff in Leeds Playhouse’s Macbeth earlier this year, plays Scrooge’s put-upon clerk, Bob Cratchit, while fellow deaf actor Emma Prendergast’s Mrs Cratchit communicates in both BSL and spoken English.
Prendergast’s is the strongest Hull accent in this staging on the Hull dockside, whose atmosphere is set before the start and at the interval with the sound of lapping water and gulls, together with the Yorkshire catmint of brass-band carols.
Hayley Grindle’s Hull quayside for A Christmas Carol
Prompted by the Victorian warehouses still to be found around the East Riding city, McAndrew’s “uniquely Hull twist” to Dickens’s winter tale of second chances has transformed Ebenezer Scrooge (Jack Lord) into the money-counting owner of one such large dockside building. Sea shanties pepper Biddle’s score too.
As in 2017, Grindle’s highly detailed yet spacious set of the warehouse’s brick frontage, the dock bell, the ropes and sacks of the quayside, and fish crates stacked up for Scrooge and Cratchit’s desks, are complemented by Carr’s lighting, with a golden glow in the frosty windows and row upon row of candles that play to the air of ghostliness.
In the bleak, strike-struck midwinter of 2022, Babych’s highlighting of Dickens’s “comment on poverty, social deprivation, and the importance of giving people the opportunity to thrive” has resonance anew, and so this revival is even more moving, as well as being a delightfully musical and beautifully told piece of family theatre.
Tempus fugit for Jack Lord’s Ebenezer Scrooge
In a Hull divided between the haves and the have nothings, McAndrew’s urban nocturnal drama nods to the tradition of Victorian storytelling, full of richly evocative language that heightens scenes of sadness – never more so than in the young Scrooge’s (Mark Donald) terminated engagement to Belle (Prendergast) – yet it is theatrically bold too.
Scenes with the ghosts are presented with a magician’s flourish, Gothic frights and even the dark heart of the Grand Guignol, typified by Whitehead’s Marley amid graveyard ghosts galore.
Yet these ghosts can be playful too, especially when surrounding Scrooge in his nightgown, removing his night cap. Once he takes his first steps on the road to redemption, as Lord’s miserable miser swaps that cap symbolically for a Santa hat, his desire to learn, to make amends, is more immediately transformative than in some interpretations.
Lisa Howard’s Ghost of Christmas Present: Evoking music-hall acts
Nothing is more unconventional in McAndrew’s reinvention than the Ghost of Christmas Present (Lisa Howard) becoming a dapper circus act-cum-music hall turn, possessed of a line in Christmas gags cornier than a cracker punchline. Howard evokes the Good Old Days stars of yore at Leeds City Varieties yet captures the grave need to crack on too in an elegant, eloquent production that moves ever more briskly against the tides of time.
Welcome back Hull Truck’s A Christmas Carol, the most popular of Christmas ghost stories, told even better than before.
A Christmas Carol runs at Hull Truck Theatre until December 31. Performances: December 22, 23, 28, 29 and 30, 2pm and 7pm; December 24 and 31, 11am and 4pm. Low availability for all shows. Box office: 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.
Did you know?
YORK playwright Mike Kenny is writing the script for Hull Truck Theatre’s 2023 family Christmas production, Pinocchio, as well as co-writing the lyrics with composer and musical director John Biddle. Tickets will go on sale next March. Watch this space for more details.
Chain reaction: Everal A. Walsh’s Jacob Marley will set Ebenezer Scrooge on his path to redemption in A Christmas Carol. Picture: Anthony Robling
BAH, Tier 3 Humbug. A Christmas Carol should have been opening at Leeds Playhouse tomorrow for a run until January 9, but then came the Government’s latest killjoy message for much of the north.
The Playhouse’s response is to go ahead anyway…but for five special online performances only, from December 21 to 23.
“Just as the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future try to instil in Scrooge some seasonal spirit, Leeds Playhouse remains committed to spreading much-needed festive cheer across the city and beyond this year, with ‘as live’ digital screenings of its sensational family show A Christmas Carol,” says the Playhouse statement.
“As Leeds remains in Tier 3, the Playhouse is sadly unable to welcome people into its Quarry Theatre to enjoy the production in person, but we remain determined that audiences will be able to experience the spirit, fun, music and magic of A Christmas Carol in the run-up to the big day.”
Leeds Playhouse has worked with Pilot Theatre, resident company at York Theatre Royal, to film the production and share it for free with care homes, schools and hospitals in Leeds.
“It’s brilliant to be working in a new partnership with Leeds Playhouse on Playhouse At Home,” says Pilot Theatre artistic director Esther Richardson. “We know how disappointing it is for everyone this Christmas in Leeds not to be able to attend theatre performances, but if you access the show via your television, or the largest screen you have at home, it’s amazing how close our team are able to make you feel to the actors and the magic of this enduring Christmas story.”
Dan Parr in Leeds Playhouse’s production of A Christmas Carol. Picture: Anthony Robling
Now, tickets are being made available to the wider public for online performances at 7pm on December 21, then 2pm and 7pm on December 22 and 23. Prices start at £10, but be warned, numbers are limited, so early booking is advised to avoid disappointment.
Charles Dickens’s winter evergreen can be enjoyed in the comfort and safety of homes – whether in Tier 3 across West Yorkshire or Tier 2 in York and North Yorkshire – in Huddersfield-born Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation, premiered at Hull Truck Theatre in December 2017, when directed by Amy Leach.
Now associate director at Leeds Playhouse, Leach is directing this season’s production too, wherein the spirits of theatre past, present and future emerge from ghost lights centre stage to share with miser Ebenezer Scrooge the true meaning of this festive time of year.
On Christmas Eve in Victorian Leeds, the cold-hearted Scrooge has not spread an ounce of festive cheer. As the cold night draws in, first Jacob Marley, then the ghostly spirits, take Scrooge on his frightening but enlightening magical journey, hoping to show him the error of his ways.
“Our vivid retelling of one of the best-loved stories in English literature was inspired by the evocative beauty and intrinsic hope of the ghost lights that continued to burn bright while theatres across the land were forced to go dark when the pandemic hit,” says Leach.
“Our aim now with Playhouse At Home is to share that same light and hope with people in their own homes, giving them the best seats in the house for a story infused with goodwill, festive spirit and optimism. What a way to kick off Christmas week!”
Playwright Deborah McAndrew
As part of the Playhouse’s on-going commitment to supporting the Leeds community, the Quarry Hill theatre is gifting a free screening to closed wards of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, so patients can enjoy the on-stage magic even while they are in hospital over the festive period.
The offer is being extended to the Playhouse’s Burberry Inspire partner schools, residents in three care homes and to two day-service settings for adults with a learning disability.
Ticket holders who booked for cancelled shows will be sent the digital version for free. In addition, the Playhouse will bring A Christmas Carol to 1,000 NHS key workers and their families as part of the #LeedsSaysThanks scheme.
Playhouse artistic director James Brining says: “It feels more important than ever that we should honour our ongoing commitment to the wider Playhouse community in Leeds, the city region and beyond, giving our more vulnerable neighbours the chance to experience the life-enhancing joy of live theatre at Christmas in the comfort and safety of familiar surroundings.”
Reflecting on “undoubtedly an incredibly challenging year”, Brining says: “With challenge comes innovation. We launched Playhouse Connect during lockdown to stay creatively engaged with more than 4,000 people across Leeds.
Jack Lord’s Ebenezer Scrooge, centre, has his measly meal interrupted by the nightcap-bothering Lladel Bryant in Leeds Playhouse’s A Christmas Carol. Picture: Anthony Robling
“This resulted in a collated series of dynamic online projects that we were able to successfully share with a much wider digital audience. We have also previously partnered with the National Theatre and Curve on lockdown screenings of Barber Shop Chronicles and My Beautiful Laundrette.
“Playhouse At Home is the next logical step, giving us a vital outlet for the incredible work we are continuing to produce, and audiences an essential opportunity to experience inspiring and energising theatre at home.”
Jack Lord will play Ebenezer Scrooge; Stephen Collins and Nadia Nadarajah, Bob and Mrs Cratchit; Dan Parr, Young Scrooge and Fred; Tessa Parr, Christmas Past; Lladel Bryant, Dick Wilkins and Topper, and Everal A. Walsh, Marley and Fezziwig.
Lisa Howard, last seen in York in Park Bench Theatre’s late-summer premiere of Matt Aston’s lockdown play Every Time A Bell Rings in Rowntree Park, will take the roles of Christmas Present and Mrs Fezziwig.
Leach, who directed Oliver Twist at Leeds Playhouse in February, is joined in the creative team by designer Hayley Grindle; lighting designer Chris Davey; Leeds composer and music director John Biddle; Otley sound designer Ed Clarke; Leeds BSL consultant Adam Bassett; choreographer Lucy Cullingford; puppet designer Rachael Canning and puppet director Elisa De Grey.
The socially distanced Leeds Playhouse company in A Christmas Carol. Picture: Anthony Robling
Tickets (£10/£12/£150 can be booked at leedsplayhouse.org.uk or 0113 213 7700 with access for 48 hours from the ticket time. All performances include integrated British Sign Language (BSL), captioning and features creative audio description, courtesy of Hear The Picture.
