Front Room Productions

A CHRISTMAS CAROL saw Front Room tackle its largest-scale undertaking to date, totalling 42 performances across four unusual venues, and creating a unique production in each city.  The show combined Front Room’s characteristic promenade style with an immersive effect.  In adapting the novel, Olivia created an ambitious split scene structure and incorporated audience participation, recruiting members into roles such as Young Scrooge, boisterous partygoers, and members of the Cratchit household. 

With a strong cast of Actor-Musicians, the action was underscored by a rich combination of strings, brass and accordion, as well as intricate a-capella vocal arrangements of well-known Christmas carols, which created an entirely festive and Dickensian atmosphere.

The audience response was incredible, and as a performer it was truly heart-warming to see the effect of the show reflected in the faces of our spectators at such close quarters.  Smiles abounded as audience members flung themselves around the room to Fezziwig’s group ceilidh dance, and joined in with Fred’s party games, while bleak visions of the future were observed with solemn silence and stony faces.  People seemed genuinely moved by Scrooge’s final transformation – we even had a few tears!

As Charles Dickens observed in the novel, “There is nothing so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour”, and palpable Christmas cheer certainly touched all those who were involved with this magical production.

Alice Barber, Producer/Musician