THE Merlin Christmas show is traditionally a feast of fun and talent, featuring a huge number of performers, technicians and back stage supporters – and this year’s show, on until 13th December, is no exception, with a regular cast of 25 and two alternating teams of ten leading players and dancers as well.
Roald Dahl’s ever-popular story, filmed in 1971 and again in 2005, with its own spin-off (Wonka) filmed in Bath more recently, calls for a deal of technical wizardry, and that’s what it gets on the Merlin stage, where the video and sound skills have evolved over the years. Mike Teavee’s journey is a masterpiece of invention!
You probably know the story. Young Charlie Bucket, grandson of a chocolate maker, is passionate about his cocoa beans, but he is poor. He lives with his three-jobs-a-day mother and his four bed-ridden grandparents, in the shadow of Wonka, the apparently disused but still oddly productive factory owned by the reclusive, (and frankly weird), Willy Wonka, a man forced to shut the visible evidence of his chocolate manufacture following invasion by competitors’ spies.
The wily Willy Wonka, realising that his days are numbered, wants to pass on his passion for creating new chocolates to a worthy successor – but where to find one?
He sets up a contest – five golden tickets for an exclusive tour of the factory – and before long it goes viral. The first ticket goes to Bavaria, where Augustus Gloop is eating his way through the Alps. Next goes to Russia, where Veruca Salt is pirouetting her dictatorial way through her father’s fortune. Then to California, where the Queen of Pop is chewing gum and gaining social media followers, and the short trip to Iowa, where Mike Teavee rules his family from the sofa in front of the television. Of course, the final ticket ends up in the eager hands of Charlie Bucket.
Come-uppances follow in increasingly gruesome forms as the four ghastly children give in to their selfish instincts, without a thought for the factory rules or the Oompa Loompas who guard its secrets. Our Charlie, accompanied by his tale-spinning grandpa Joe (miraculously risen from his 40-year bed), is the last remaining ticket-holder, and he gets his rightful reward.
The night I saw the show, Team Wonka was in action – all the five children, Mrs Bucket and five excellent dancers. Luuk Temmink was a delightful Charlie, and Tabitha Cox brought a touching reality to her portrayal of his determined mother. Luuk’s sister Millie was the petulant and self-obsessed Violet (Q of P), and Sam Hodgman the gluttonous Gloop, with Alice Humphreys dancing her socks off as the dictatorial Russian, and Rufus Mills with just the right rude egocentricity of the American teenager as Mike. The every-night cast is led by Davey Evans as the eccentric chocolatier and Frome’s famous Andrew Carpenter as Grandpa Joe, with some hilarious characterisations from the winning children’s parents, Daisy Mercedes, Kev Withers, Dave Merritt-Johns and Tina Gaisford-Waller (who can even yodel!). Choreographed by c0-producer Abi Holmes, this show once again shows how it can and should be done.
I wonder how many of us think back at Christmases past as times of big boxes of chocolate and trips to the pantomime? As the Merlin Theatre in Frome celebrates its 50th anniversary, director Claudia Pepler has chosen Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the Christmas show, and the musical version has all the important elements – poor people living in cramped rooms while the rich live in mansions on the hill, hard lessons to be learned, goodness winning over evil … all of them timelessly relevant.
Claudia has recently marked her own 25th anniversary at the theatre, which, during her tenure, has established itself as the hub of creative performance in the extraordinarily talented town. The Merlin Christmas show is always a must-see in the calendar. This year is no exception. The only difference is that instead of the usual Merlin on-stage band, we have an on-stage director, albeit one who is so exhausted with all the hard work she has taken to her bed – Claudia is also playing the role of Grandma Josephine!
At the time of writing there are just a few tickets left for performances between 9th and 12th December. Get one if you can and follow this terrific Merlin cast into a world of pure imagination.
GP-W
(temporary snatched photograph while awaiting production images)