Theatre reviews: A Christmas Carol, Corn Exchange, Haddington | Beauty and the Beast, Byre Theatre, St Andrews

Young players excel in these two Christmas shows, writes Joyce McMillan

A Christmas Carol | Mihaela Bodlovic

A Christmas Carol, Corn Exchange, Haddington ★★★★

Beauty And The Beast, Byre Theatre, St Andrews ★★★

If you live in the Lothians, you probably already know that this year’s Brunton Theatre panto opens against the backdrop of the devastating news that following its initial closure in 2023, after the discovery of Raac concrete in the structure, the much-loved Brunton Theatre and community hub in Musselburgh is now set to be demolished, without any immediate promise of a replacement.

Is the wonderful Brunton company downhearted, though? Oh no it’s not. Instead, it has joined forces with the terrific young Glasgow-based company Wonder Fools to co-produce a hilarious 21st century family version of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol that opened at Haddington Corn Exchange this weekend, and will also be seen at Loretto School in Musselburgh over Christmas and New Year.

Set in the Haddington High Street loan office of Miss Scrooge - a designer-clad monster of greed played with some subtlety by Graham Crammond - Robbie Gordon and director Jack Nurse’s new version of the tale of Scrooge plays fast and loose with the story to the point of almost breaking it completely; but somehow, through sheer cheek, gets away with it. The show features a lovely female Cratchit - beautifully played by Rebekah Lumsden as a hard-working single mum - and a disconcertingly huge Tiny Tim, played by Robbie Gordon in a muscle suit, whose failure to seem the least bit vulnerable comes close to wrecking the whole moral arc of the story.

The show’s saving grace, though - in Jack Nurse’s rollicking production - comes from a clutch of hilarious but focussed performances from the rest of the cast, and from some truly stellar work by the six-strong chorus of local youngsters, who play loan company workers, school pals and little Cratchits with real flair, and a strong sense of moral purpose, while also dancing and singing brilliantly.

And at the centre of it all, Graham Crammond delivers a stylish and telling performance as a gradually relenting Scrooge, not so much born to be cruel as broken by heartbreak; and roundly told by tiny kids in the audience why it matters to celebrate Christmas. “Because you’ll be with your family, and you’ll feel loved…” whispers one little tot, to loud cheers; readers, even Dickens could not have said it better himself.

Beauty and the Beast | Contributed

At the Byre, meanwhile, writer-director Gordon Barr and his Glasgow-based Bard In The Botanics company celebrate the tenth year of their panto relationship with the Byre by launching a Beauty and the Beast that, like the Brunton Christmas Carol, depends heavily for its success on some brilliant work by its 12-strong Young Cast, who excel as servants at the Beast’s castle, assorted villagers, and a group of selfie-grabbing cool kids who do their best to make Beauty’s life a misery.

This version of the “story old as time” nearly scuppers itself by starting to send the story up before it has even begun; panto is a tolerant old art-form, but you do have to establish the basic narrative framework before you can start packing it with delightful nonsense, such as Alan Steele’s outrageous Dame Bunty roaming the stage seeing how long she can keep the audience laughing by saying nothing at all.

Once the story gets going, though, things begin to look up, despite a continuing tendency to overdo the off-colour self-referential asides. Eimi Quinn and James Boal are that rarest of things, a truly charismatic, likeable, funny and glamorous Beauty and Beast, with real star quality. And always, there are the young players, full of the storytelling discipline and brilliantly-focussed energy that every panto needs, alongside the merry chaos; so that in the end, there’s no resisting the sheer sparkle and glamour of the show, or the power of its central romance, which emerges triumphant, after all.

A Christmas Carol at the Corn Exchange, Haddington, until 14 December, and at Loretto School, Musselburgh, 18 December-4 January. Beauty and the Beast at the Byre Theatre, St Andrews, until 31 December.