Artistic Director Paul Hart and the team at Newbury’s The Watermill Theatre have announced that there will be a filmed version released of A Christmas Carol, which opened to critical acclaim on Thursday 3 December, and is currently playing to socially distanced audiences in the theatre until Sunday 3 January.
The film of A Christmas Carol will be available to watch on demand from Friday 18 December at 7.30pm, with a basic ticket price of £10 for 3 days access to the film. There are also options to support The Watermill further, by paying £25 for access to the film for 7 days (the equivalent of one full price ticket to watch the production in the theatre), or £50 for access to watch for 10 days (the equivalent of two full price tickets). A captioned version will also be available to watch from Friday, and an audio described version and schools’ package will be made available in January.
Pre-booking for A Christmas Carol: Video On Demand is now open and tickets can be booked online at www.watermill.org.uk
Paul Hart said, “We’re so thrilled with the response to ‘A Christmas Carol’ and we’re very keen to make it available to as many people as possible, offering some Christmas joy to anyone who may need it. Especially as many people might not be able to join us this year due to limited capacities in the theatre, or because they may need or want to stay closer to home at the moment…but we’re excited to be able to introduce our work to audiences from farther afield, both in the UK and internationally!
We’re very proud of the production which really gets to the heart of Dickens’ original in such an inventive and fresh way – and I’m so excited this will offer a bit of Watermill magic this Christmas direct to people’s homes!”
It’s Christmas Eve, and whilst London is alive with festive cheer and seasonal goodwill, the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge grows meaner by the minute. A heartless money lender, who cares more about counting his coins than for his fellow man, Scrooge despises Christmas and everything to do with it. But will a timely visit from the haunting ghosts of Christmas past, present and future change his wicked ways before it’s too late?
Two actor-musicians introduce us to Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and a host of extraordinary characters as you have never seen them before in a festive retelling of Charles Dickens’ classic tale.
Actor musicians Pete Ashmore and Tilly-Mae Millbrook star as ‘Scrooge’ and ‘The Narrator’ respectively. Adapted by Danielle Pearson, directed by Georgie Staight and designed by Isobel Nicolson, A Christmas Carol sees the cast working together as joint Musical Directors, creating a magical festive soundscape. Lighting is designed by Harry Armytage with sound design by Tom Marshall and costume design by Emily Barratt.
For audiences in the theatre itself, as well as strict social distancing measures to reduce audience capacity, other safety measures include all audience members being required to wear face masks, hand sanitiser stations throughout the venue, a one-way system for accessing the toilets and signage to indicate routes and procedures. To enhance audience safety, a fogging machine is used to regularly sanitise all public areas at The Watermill, and to avoid recirculating air in the auditorium, the theatre is heated before audience members arrive, and then fresh air is continuously fed through the theatre during performances.
