Christmas Carol Review

A Christmas Carol – Friday 18th December 2015 Review.

Even the grumpiest of “Christmas Carol” Scrooges would have been hard pressed not to have been enthralled and thoroughly entertained by the Goodrow Production of the Charles Dickens playlet ‘A Christmas Carol’ performed at the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum in Lichfield on Friday evening. I attended the first of two sold out shows that evening, which followed two other successful sell out performances at the Erasmus Darwin House two days earlier.

A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter and twisted old miserly owner of a Money Lending London Counting House named Ebenezer Scrooge played brilliantly here by local actor and co-founder of Goodrow Productions, Stuart Goodwin. Scrooge is eventually transformed into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his old deceased business partner Jacob Marley, and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to come.

This lively adaptation of the classic Dickens tale was excellent with Stuart Goodwin playing the main character of Scrooge throughout, whilst the remaining six members of the cast, Senior performers, Alan Rowe and Rachel Duncan, plus four very talented young actors, 10 year olds Ethan Bowley, Claudia Rae, and Florence Duncan and the youngest Zephan Rowe just 8, all playing multiple parts flawlessly. The timing and movement of these young actors was such that any one of them would not be out of place in a full theatre production.

All of the actors played their characters with great enthusiasm and it was good to see the four youngsters in particular having such a good time, mixing the lightness and darkness of the script to good effect. How the cast managed to remember which character they were playing at any one time was quite amazing; their only props being a change of hat, wig, or cloak, plus the use of different accents to emphasise their characters.

With Scrooges cold hearted approach to life successfully reversed having glimpsed his own future, the show ended with a rousing performance of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” to loud applause from a thoroughly entertained audience.

Goodrow Productions is a non profit making Film, Drama and Community-focussed Production Company based in Lichfield and the aim is to tell interesting stories in a fascinating way. With the 4th Centenary of William Shakespeare’s death taking place in 2016, Goodrow Productions are working on a new Community Arts Project called “Infinate Spaces.” The project will consist of Community Performances of famous Shakespearean speeches.