Ghosted - Another F***cking Christmas Carol
Gavin & Stacey's Christmas Special, this definitely is not.
Norwich Theatre
It is just under a month since I had my last theatrical helping of Charles Dickens' yuletide secular parable, 'A Christmas Carol', and a splendid night it was, spent in the company of the dancers from Northern Ballet at Norwich Theatre Royal.
By complete contrast, John Bradfield and Martin Hooper's 'Ghosted - Another F***ing Christmas Carol', best described as an adult-only retelling of Dickens' classic tale, sets itself in a modern-day London letting office, where cashflow-canny owner proprietor Eloisa Scrooge (Rachel Hudson-Fletcher) continues to pile the workload onto put-upon office clerk Bobbi Cratchitt (Teleri Hughes), even on Christmas Eve.
With just a cast of four – Joshua Coley contributing three outrageously camp versions of the ghosts of Christmases past, present, and yet-to-be; and Charlie Bryant gallantly multi-tasking as Bobbi's spouse Emily, and also as each one of their quadruplets (all named Will), this 75 minute one-act comedy gag-fest is both fast-paced and frenetic. Coley is particularly energetic, with some wild dance moves thrown in, and it is they who also seem to get most of the choicest punchlines.
If you like your comedy to be liberally peppered with plenty of very-near-the-knuckle gay and queer references, along with some sparklingly topical Greg Wallace gags and crudely re-worked yuletide songs, this is your Christmas Carol.
Gavin & Stacey's Christmas Special, this definitely is not.
'Ghosted - Another F***ing Christmas Carol' continues at Norwich Theatre Playhouse until December 21st.
