Ghosts that refused to leave the stage; a goose that refused to be plucked for Christmas dinner, and a baddie wearing a pair of gold lamé underpants?
This can only mean one thing – Scrooge: The Panto, at the Isle of Bute Discovery Centre.
Audiences at the four packed-out performances were effusive in their praise of this year’s multi-media, multi-generational community show and the following short review by one audience member adeptly sums up the general reaction: “It was brilliant, and very funny, I’m so glad I went to see it. Such a lot of work had been put in, and for everyone to perform so confidently that close to the audience – very hard, I think.
“It had a special resonance, being our community, and tailored to our island, not to mention the first play I’ve seen in Scotland too, I’ll definitely go next year. All of the singing was very good, and I really liked the casual swagger of the dance numbers. The costumes were brilliant too, and the camel and grumpy goose will live long in my memory.
“I loved the multimedia element, it was very successful at setting the scenes, particularly the school yard in the past, and the flying carpets were hilarious. “Highlights – there were many, but if I had to pick one, it would have to be seeing Paul Duffy (who played Ebenezer Scrooge) in an entirely new light. One big question remains – does Paul own the gold lamé underpants and
if so, why…?”
Irene McGregor, Chair of Bute Theatre Company said: “We had a blast performing this show. Our only sadness was that Grace Wallace, who played the part of the eldest Cratchit sister, was ill after the first performance and was unable to take part in the remaining ones.
“However, our director, Dorothy McDonald, stepped in at the last minute and played (in her own words) “the oldest Cratchit child ever…”
Dorothy said: “Putting on a show like this is a real team effort. The whole cast of 18 adults and children onstage, plus 12 other children in the filmed sequences, worked their socks off to produce truly magical and heartwarming performances. However, none of this would have been possible without the voluntary backstage crew who really gave it their all this year.
“I’d particularly like to thank James Whitelaw, Ludwig Nemiro, Sarah Watt, Leo Xu and Rory Pescod who worked so hard with the lighting and props. “Talking of props, Colleen Magennis created fantastic goose, camel and genie puppets which all made an appearance either in the filmed sections or onstage. The wonderful, illustrated backgrounds on the screen were created by the highly talented Louise Johnson who also supervised the lighting.
“Back in the dressing room our scary ghosts were made that much more scary with the help of make-up artist Kirsty Murray. Sarah Palmer-Scoon did a great
job on the costumes and behind the scenes Angie Dight was a fabulous stage manager.”
Peter Atkins, director of Achievement Bute, who also led the auditorium-based lighting and props team said: “Preparations for this show began months ago and involved a lot of children and young people.
“In the October holidays film-maker Matt Harvey spent a whole week with us to create a series of filmed sequences. This enabled so many more children than can fit on the tiny Discovery Centre stage to be a part of the show and we have to thank Matt for editing all the footage and putting all the projections together for us.”
The whole team praised local charity, For Bute, which donated £860 to help cover the costs of putting on the show, and Print Point for selling the tickets. Finally, Hazel Mulholland and the staff at the Isle of Bute Discovery Centre can give themselves a well-deserved pat on the back for enabling Bute Theatre Company and Achievement Bute to make this show possible for the island community.
