Congratulations to the cast and crew of ‘Scrooge’ at Freshwater Memorial Hall last week. This ambitious production involved the combined efforts of The New Strolling Players, Back Alley Productions and Kaleidoscope Theatre Company. Members of Kaleidoscope directed, designed the scenery, designed and operated the lighting and sound, assisted with set construction and acted. We were pleased to see many of the special effects devised and constructed by members of Kaleidoscope receive recognition in one of the show’s reviews (see below). The show also received a glowing review in the local press and was well attended raising hundreds for local charities.

This was a demanding production and it was rewarding to see the three groups pool their talents to provide various expertise in areas such as costume, choreography, music, set design and construction. Thank you to all those involved and the audience for supporting local entertainment. Photographs to follow.

Review by Sally Kimpton – IWCP 21/12/09

“This year the New Strolling Players broke with tradition and joined forces with the Kaleidoscope Theatre Company and Back Alley Productions to present Scrooge, a musical based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

The result was a real delight and just the thing to cheer up a cold, dark winter’s evening. The show was full of great songs, dancing and humour. Tim Bull did an excellent job in the demanding role of the old skinflint, Ebenezer Scrooge, and Antony J. Moore was a cheery Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s much put-upon clerk.

Michael Dangerfield was great fun as Harry, Scrooge’s optimistic nephew, who kept trying to get his uncle to spend Christmas with him, and Mr and Mrs Fezziwig, played by Michael Grist and Helena Hewson, were full of good cheer and Christmas spirit.

Michael Wells and Rachel Dangerfield, as Young Ebenezer and his lost love, Isabel, made a charming couple, helping to tell the story of how Scrooge had ended up as such an unhappy man.

A number of young people took part in the production and they were first class, particularly Joe Cotton as Tiny Tim, Molly Hatch-Wheatley as Kathy Cratchit, Lawrie Burgess as Ebby – Ebenezer as a child – and Lily Hutchings as his sister, Jen.

Excellent special effects came to the fore in the scenes where Scrooge is confronted by the ghost of his old partner Jacob Marley, played by Kevin Wilson, who made shivers run down the spine as he appeared dressed in his white shroud and weighed down with clanking chains, and by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.

Making the ghostly face of Marley appear on Scrooge’s front door, as if by magic, was particularly clever. And at the end, when Scrooge had been made to see the error of his ways and had become a kind and generous man, we even had some snow falling on the scene to complete a special Christmas evening.”