Bucks &amp; Oxon

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1146" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1741.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-154230" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1741.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1741-800x611.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1741-1000x764.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1741-400x306.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1741-687x525.jpg 687w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">All images: Geraint Lewis</figcaption></figure>



If panto doesn&#8217;t do it for you but you still want to feel Christmassy, the annual December residency of the brilliant <a href="https://creationtheatre.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creation Theatre</a> at the North Wall theatre in Summertown, Oxford, is the hot ticket in town.



For a play about the notorious Scrooge, there&#8217;s plenty of cheer in <a href="https://creationtheatre.co.uk/show/a-christmas-carol/">A Christmas Carol</a> reminding the audience to ‘honour Christmas’ with generosity and joy – and this show takes it own advice, in turns witty, entertaining, gripping yet good-natured in all the right ways.



Tight-fisted Scrooge despises Christmas, other people and any form of kindness. Having pushed everyone away, he&#8217;s finally all alone and is confronted by the ghost of his late business partner Marley, locked in chains, who tells Scrooge that he too will meet the same desperate fate. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1084" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_3379.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-154233" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_3379.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_3379-800x578.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_3379-1000x723.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_3379-400x289.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_3379-726x525.jpg 726w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



You know the drill, he&#8217;s then visited by three ghosts who show him the error of his ways &#8211; but this is Creation so there are always fun twists, turns and caveats to the Dickens classic, and writer Gari Jones has had a ball taking bleak Victorian London and sprinkled some Christmas magic to make it contemporary, relevant and intelligently funny.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1071" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2011.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-154231" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2011.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2011-800x571.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2011-1000x714.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2011-400x286.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2011-735x525.jpg 735w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



Scrooge – played with wiry energy by Nicholas Osmond struts around in his Victorian bedclothes and floppy cap. Emily Woodward, Anna Tolputt (a fabulous Benedick in Creation&#8217;s <a href="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/review-creation-theatre-much-ado-about-nothing-oxford/">Much Ado About Nothing</a> in the summer) and Graeme Rose play the three ghosts &#8211; each slightly spooky, bonkers, or a bit of both. Hayley Murray plays Cratchit, sings beautifully and, alongside her fellow cast members, she dances and twerks her way through the two hour show.&nbsp;Being a small cast of six, the actors play multiple roles to tell this classic story, deftly changing character in front of our eyes with a tilt of the head, stoop of the back or knowing glance at the audience. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1055" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2303.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-154237" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2303.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2303-800x563.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2303-1000x703.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2303-400x281.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_2303-746x525.jpg 746w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



Herb Cuanalo stood out for me, one of the youngest cast members, has a genuine talent and a real knack for comedy. Aptly re-naming Tiny Tim, Enormous Tim, because you can’t call a 6’1” bloke tiny even if he is wearing shorts and sucking his thumb. At one point he impersonated a whole zoo of animals whilst play parlour games at Scrooge’s nephew’s house – his dog and ferret impressions made the audience roar.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Tim_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_20007-1000x667.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-154235" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Tim_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_20007-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Tim_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_20007-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Tim_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_20007-400x267.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Tim_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_20007-788x525.jpg 788w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Tim_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_20007.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



My Christmas Carol partner was my 16 year old daughter, and it’s wonderful to see the show through her eyes. It was her first Creation Theatre experience, and I can’t think of a better show for a first-timer. She was wide-eyed and mesmerised, chuckling at the cleverness of the script and the immersive theatrical magic created by the clever staging and lights. North Wall is an intimate venue which, I think, also helped her enjoyment &#8211; the audience is so close to the stage you can feel the energy crackling as the cast of six spark off each other as well as the audience &#8211; there&#8217;s no fourth wall in this performance.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1008" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Martha-_-Fred-_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1600.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-154236" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Martha-_-Fred-_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1600.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Martha-_-Fred-_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1600-800x538.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Martha-_-Fred-_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1600-1000x672.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Martha-_-Fred-_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1600-400x269.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/12/Martha-_-Fred-_A_CHRISTMAS_CAROL-_1600-781x525.jpg 781w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



As is often the case with Creation, stage set and props are minimal, just enough to suggest a scene or highlight a moment. Everything in its place and timed to perfection, like the show itself. A big Muddy thumbs up.







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-muddy-verdict">THE MUDDY VERDICT</h2>



Good for:&nbsp;Grown-ups and families with teens – it’s a classic yet tells a positive message and you can’t help but love it. This is the perfect show for families, particularly those with teens (who will appreciate the humour and music).



Not for:&nbsp;Families with little kids – though the play is suitable for children 7+, it&#8217;s not designed for them, so there&#8217;s no slapstick, panto dame or water pistols.



A Christmas Carol is at <a href="https://www.thenorthwall.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The North Wall Arts Centre</a> until Sat 06 Jan 2024. Tickets from £13.50-£32.00. <a href="https://creationtheatre.co.uk/show/a-christmas-carol/">Book here.</a>&nbsp;South Parade, Summertown,&nbsp;Oxford&nbsp;OX2 7JN.<a href="https://www.camberleytheatre.co.uk/events/cinderella2023"></a>



Words: Kerry Yates

Review: A Christmas Carol, North Wall, Oxford

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