It’s Christmas show time at the Rep, for the first time since 2019, although it doesn’t appear that the cast have been informed.
When they appear onstage, it’s with a large tumble of equipment cases heaped behind them and all 11 actors dressed only in regulation Dundee Rep hoodies. There’s nothing going on, and the gag is they’ve forgotten to put the show together.
From these humble beginnings, the writing team of Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie have devised a Christmas show which manages to be as perfectly traditional as all the expectant families attending might hope for, but something fresh and interestingly experimental too.
The pair, also known as Noisemaker, collaborated so effectively with the Rep on recent seasonal adaptations of The Snow Queen and Oor Wullie.
At first the cast are playing versions of themselves, and the show is pulled together before our eyes with skilful, tricksy ingenuity by designer Emily James and director Andrew Panton.
It a show of wonders
Magical-seeming costume changes take place in complete darkness, and actors are literally thrust into roles – Ewan Donald protests that 43 is way too young for Scrooge, before the miser’s hat is popped on his head anyway.
The nondescript set contains plenty of surprises, whether they’re within the pile of black boxes in centre stage, or in the use that’s made of ladders and bits of scaffolding.
Grant Anderson’s lighting is particularly effective here, as a sense of the moodily Victorian or the bright and festive appears from nowhere.
Much like Noisemaker’s previous hits at the Rep, there’s a little of something for everyone here.
Not just with the new and interesting staging, but their original, seasonally-themed musical songs are poignant or extremely funny, depending on the mood.
A number of the ensemble play instruments in gig theatre style, but actor and musical director Isaac Savage’s contributions are particularly striking.
They shine, whether he’s reciting the haunting piano song young Scrooge plays before he’s sternly told to forget such foolishness, or playing an Aled Jones-like choirboy announcing the arrival of Emily Winter’s Ghost of Christmas Past amid much overblown regal pomp.
Great talent and many laughs
Typically, the cast are all great – at their core, the Rep Ensemble of Winter, Donald, the outstandingly versatile Irene Macdougall, and Anne Louise Ross.
The latter gets many laughs out of the fact she’s been with the company for 22 years and dynamic trapdoor entrances as Marley’s Ghost are no longer her thing.
Elsewhere, Caitlin Forbes and Benjamin Osugo (who did so well in the Rep’s recent comeback Wings Around Dundee) are both particularly exciting young talents, and the multi-generational aspect of the cast gives them a real sense of family.
Clever dance sequences
The dance sequences devised by choreographer Joan Clevillé – who’s also artistic director at Dundee’s Scottish Dance Theatre – take advantage of the different abilities of the actors, with steps which are subtle and well-integrated to the story, rather than brash and showy.
By the closing scene, you won’t believe what’s been conjured out of nothing.
It’s another typically classy Christmas offering from the Rep, with everything an audience could be hoping for packed into an hour and a half.
A Christmas Carol is at Dundee Rep Theatre until December 31.
