Reclusive Willy Wonka opens a candy corner store, an incognito way of reconnecting with real people after a long period making chocolate treats in a factory which no longer employed townsfolk as workers. With sales on the decline and purchasers shuffling towards older age brackets, the chocolate bar inventor needs to revamp, revive and reimagine his brand offering. Golden tickets are hidden in Wonka chocolate bars, sparking a worldwide hunt and a boost to his brand. Five children and their responsible adults turn up to tour the factory. It’s as if Roald Dahl had foreshadowed
The Hunger Games, with only one child winning the ultimate prize.
In Belfast School of Performing Arts’ production of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Michael Nevin confidently captures the playful yet twisted, dangerously eccentric manner of Willy Wonka. Young Charlie (played on Thursday evening by Max Reid who alternates the part with Aimee Toner) is the luckiest lad alive, steeped in poverty but blessed with an abundance of love from his Mum and four comically bedridden grandparents. For Nicole Craigan, taking on Charlie’s Mum (alternating with Matilda Gibson) is quite a contrast with her role earlier this summer as the evil Sea Queen Ursula in BSPA’s junior production of
The Little Mermaid. Her lilting rendition of
If Your Father Were Here is the first moment that emotion properly enters the story. Oliver Stevenson plays Grandpa Joe (alternating with James Spencer), a teller of tall tales and always on the lookout for Charlie.
While Charlie is an optimistic dreamer, a quietly virtuous humble soul who puts others before himself, the other four international golden ticket winners truly put the ‘brat’ into this summer production: insatiable beefcake Augustus Gloop (Oliver Chestnutt), screechy and self-centred Veruca Salt (played by terrific dancer Alice Mackle), gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde (Amelia Galbraith who ably handles the physical effects that depict her character’s demise) and cyberhacker Mike Teavee (Sonny Kerr). I particularly loved how Grace Convoy made Mrs Teavee elegant yet with a twist of Miss Hannigan. And Moss McPeak’s Mrs Green was a delight every time she came on stage to flog comedy ingredients for Charlie’s family dinner.
With a cast of more than 60 actors, the ensemble is split into four groups. When everyone is on The MAC stage, it’s a tight fit, but the clusters of costumes and props help differentiate the different roles. Michael McEvoy’s choreography is to be applauded, not least for its very natural but wholehearted inclusion of a performer who uses a wheelchair is to be applauded. It’s handled as if it’s the most normal occurrence – which it is, or at least, it should be – yet is rare to see in amateur or professional productions.
An unseen band of ten play with gusto under the direction of Ashley Fulton. Many scene changes are accompanied by a group of two to six singers who deliver bursts of close harmony that will give you goosebumps. The final two songs – as Willy Wonka and Charlie travel up in the glass elevator and are then joined by the full cast on stage – epitomise the quality of the vocals and musical accompaniment.
Fergus Wachala-Kelly’s projected animations always improve productions, and in this show, his white on black handwriting and drawings increase the sense of scale of young Charlie’s imagination and his desire to improve the lives of his family. The chunky sets used for many scenes – the ability to squeeze them through the wings adds to the visual magic already in the show – mean that the absence of physical props in some parts of the second act is quite noticeable. The costumes dazzle, and the green Oompa-Loompas with matching wigs are simultaneously fetching and sinister. PS: I’m in Team Veruca in terms of wanting to go home with a Jeremy the Squirrel costume.
This new tweaked and modernised edition of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory certainly stretches the BSPA production team. The cast and creatives can’t rely on familiar music to delight the audience. Instead, the company get to grips with the less familiar music, the principals all sing and act their socks off, while the ensemble bring the magical world of the Wonka factory to life in glorious – and at times psychedelic – technicolour. BSPA’s versatility and Peter Corry’s imaginative direction shine through.
You’ve as much chance of getting a ticket to see the remaining performances of this show in The MAC as you have finding a Wonka Golden Ticket. Other than a handful of seats at Friday’s 2pm matinee, they’re rarer than hen’s teeth.
Photo credit: Toby Watson Photos
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