Ever-sceptical of her ability to truly appreciate ballet, Leo Owen gets a hefty dose of festive cheer, courtesy of Northern Ballet’s Christmas Carol during the Bradford leg of their UK tour
The PR promises a rousing Christmas show and as Ding Dong Merrily On High opens, accompanied by a cover screen of fog and falling snow, expectations are high. The sound of bells chiming signify the beginning of the “Funeral Song” to mark Marley’s death. Lez Brotherton’s two-tier stage design provides an upper walkway for the funeral party to solemnly march across before the screen rises and a bustling pre-Christmas street full of dancers in Victorian dress once again lighten the mood.
Northern Ballet’s production is very much like physical mime with moments reminiscent of commedia dell’arte as dancers give very exaggerated lightly comical performances. After collectors for the poor sing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen outside Scrooge’s workplace, Bob Cratchit (Kenneth Tindall) is shown warming his feet on a candle and there’s a humorous love spat to The Twelve Days Of Christmas. Northern’s Christmas Carol is playful and mercifully lacks the stuffiness often associated with ballet, instead combining song, dance, mime and some spoken word to tell Dicken’s story.
Discordant almost deafening bell chimes and rattled chains signify the start of the story proper as Marley’s ghost (Sebastian Loe) appears in time with a pre-recorder echoic voice and after the first interval, the Ghost of Christmas Past (Michela Paolacci) takes over. Writhing in his bed, Scrooge (Ashley Dixon) is unsurprisingly dismayed to see his bedroom window open of its own accord and a petite female wearing a ragged white dress and flashing crown of lights enter his room. From her introductory dance to The Holy And The Ivy, she transports Scrooge to a Fezziwig family party back in the days when he was less set in his ways. His bed cleverly doubles as a banquet table and the upper walkway their viewing platform for watching the elaborate Christmas ball that plays out below in undoubtedly the longest dance sequence of the show.
A very slapsticky dance contrasts with the solemn pas de deux that follows, after the set is carried away, swirling off stage like a shattered dream. Artistic Director, David Nixon, ensures the mood is constantly shifting and the show is full of clever touches, including the inside of Scrooge’s house opening up and reversing to become the exterior. Ghost number two (Sean Bates) makes a cheery entrance flying down on a central rope, wearing an impressive swirling coat in festive colours and showering gold glitter across the stage.
To contrast again, Scrooge’s final visitor (Matthew Broadbent) makes a dramatic entrance in act three looking like a fallen Lucifer figure, wearing a skull mask and an amazing feathery voodoo style costume comprised of a ragged gown and moth-eaten wings. Unsurprisingly this final act is the most dramatic with a quick transition back to the bedroom as Scrooge’s bed is wheeled on in gothic form, complete with a black coffin and rising head stone. Scrooge in the future beats down ghosts and watches dismayed as women scavenge dead Scrooge’s belongings. Awakening to realise he’s been given a final chance, Scrooge performs his first solo dance of the show, rallying the troops to guarantee a very merry Christmas and ensure a big old-skool technicolor film style finish.
Although Northern Ballet stick to a twee traditional setting with games of blind man’s buff, their Christmas Carol is light viewing, shying away from darker elements of the story to guarantee the feel-good Christmas hit their PR promised. It’s a show of song and dance with touching live vocals from little Oscar Ward as Tiny Tim (How far is it to Bethlehem), sleigh bells, falling snow, fun mock drunken dancing, a seemingly endless supply of glitter and enormous full cast sing-along. As a more relaxed hatless Scrooge wishes us a “Merry Christmas”, Northern Ballet have succeeded in the almost impossible – making ballet accessible for all.
A Christmas Carol shows at Bradford’s Alhambra from November 13-16 before continuing its tour.