‘Come with me and you’ll be, in a world of pure imagination……’
The Roald Dahl classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was one of my favourite books and films as a child and the musical stage version does not disappoint. It does indeed draw you into a world of pure imagination.
The Company of 4 use the stage at the Seckford Theatre to great effect. Directed by Sarah Dodwell and produced by Neil Thorpe, they cleverly use the stage to wheel on bits of the set and employ a digital backdrop which adds another dimension to the show. These things don’t come cheap, and along with props and stunning costumes this show has a real professional polish.
This a big cast, with a large chorus, as well as a lot of main characters. It’s a real ensemble piece with bags of humour and some strong singing voices so it’s hard to single out anyone. I want to congratulate them all.
Charlie’s grandparents bring lots of laughs and Mrs Bucket breaks your heart with her big number, If Your Father Were Here. There also some lovely non singing cameos from Mrs Green the veg seller and TV’s golden couple Jerry and Cherry Sundae.
The main Golden Ticket winning children with their plus one are incredibly strong and all wonderfully awful people as they gradually get picked off one by one in Willy Wonka’s factory. Each pairing gets a set piece when they win their ticket, and another big scene when they meet their sticky demise, and these are such playful scenes and so much fun they are some of the highlights of the show.
I do though have to mention the two biggest roles of the piece. Charlie Bucket (played by Josh Walters the night I saw the show but sharing the role with Cason Kirkpatrick) and Mr Willy Wonka himself, (played by Stephen Watt).
Neither of these roles are an easy task to take on, and both were done with absolute precision. Charlie is kind, funny and has so much heart you can’t help but route for him and Willy Wonka is so wonderfully eccentric and gleefully irritating to the adults, and child golden ticket winners, you feel you are in his world of – well pure imagination.
The show is a trifle long, but that’s not the fault of The Company of Four, as this is a script and score from a west end production and they do all they can to not let the pace flag.
Apart from tonight, Thursday 23rd October, the rest of the run is sold out so don’t hang about, get yourself down there tonight but be warned! You’ll come out absolutely craving a massive bar of chocolate!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by the Company of Four is at The Seckford Theatre until Saturday 25th October.
Visit The Seckford Theatre Website to book.
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