Hull New Theatre – until 16th November 2024
Reviewed by Dawn Bennett
5*****
I have been lucky to watch a number of Northern Ballet productions and I must say that this is probably the best one yet. It had a brilliant set and costumes. fabulous cast and absolutely amazing dancing.
Based on the novel by Charles Dickens this production was based on an original outline by Christopher Gable and developed jointly by Christoper Gable and Carl Davis. Northern Ballet, under Artistic Director Frederico Bonelli, brought this production to life.
Jacob Marley (Andrew Tomlinson) is dead and Scrooge (Jonathan Hanks) is the only person at his business partners funeral. The story then moves to several years later to London, on Christmas Eve, to the counting house that Ebeneezer Scrooge owns and where the long-suffering Bob Cratchit (Harris Beattie) is working along with his miserable boss. Even when the nephew of Scrooge (Jun Ishii) and his wife (Sarah Chun) and try and instil some Christmas spirit in Ebeneezer nothing works. Bob Cratchit leaves for home and Scrooge returns to his lodgings where he visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley who gives him the warning that unless he changes his ways he will be condemned to a life of torment.
Scrooge is visited by three ghosts, The Ghost of Christmas Past (Saeka Shirai), the Ghost of Christmas Present (Joseph Taylor) and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Andrew Tomlinson).
The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to the home of his first employer and he sees the mistakes that he made as a young man.
The Ghost of Christmas Present takes him to the home of his employee Bob Cratchit and he sees that even with very little money or possessions they are very happy and content with each other.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come see Scrooge back at the Cratchits house where the family are mourning the loss of their son and brother Tiny Tim (George Vernon).
Scrooge is then in a bedroom and on the bed is a corpse and Scrooge realises when he sees a headstone that the corpse is in fact himself.
Scrooge promises to change and indeed he does, from a bitter and lonely old man to someone who regains his lost humanity and begins to love his fellow man.
With the production and costume design by Lez Brotherston OBE the setting of this production was always going to good but it was really good to watch and to see how the set moved from Scrooges lodgings, to his office, to the Cratchit’s house, to the Fezziwig’s and back again.
This is a stunning production of A Christmas Carol and it is definitely a must see, if it’s the first ballet you have seen or if you have seen lots, you certainly will not be disappointed.