This Old Mill, 90-minute production can be seen at the Old Mill Theatre, Mends Street in South Perth. This curtain up at 7.30 pm each evening until Saturday 16^th December. Tickets are scarce.

The stage has two sets; on one side is the office of Scrooge and Marley – the flats were a grubby brown – and on the other side of the stage is the Cratchit’s kitchen. Centre stage became Scrooge’s meagre bedroom.

The set was designed by Justin Friend, and then built by Justin, Les Hart and Phil Barnett. The production manager, Sheila Wileman provided most of the antique props. The copyright owner supplied the orchestral music on CD, but this was melodiously enhanced by the choral accompaniment provided by the talented cast in the wings – well, trained by the musical director, Justin Freind.

Stage manager, Megan Burley, had a cast of thousands to control, but they entered and exited smoothly, from both the wings and the rear of the auditorium. This worked very well and added to the audience involvement. The set changes were smooth and unobtrusive.

The operation of the sound effects (Nina O’Doherty) and smoke machine were faultless.

John Woolrych’s lighting design was one of his best yet. Real candles lighted Scrooge’s office and the accompanying glow was of perfect tone and level. There was also good selective lighting on the soloist singers. One costume had small blue lamps built into the seams, well worth the extra work. The limelights of the era were replaced by two strips of LEDs that gave a chilling effect to some of the dream sequences. Ian O’Doherty faultlessly operated the lighting.

       The miserly owner, Ebenezer Scrooge (Barry Park), has paid Bob Cratchit (Craig Menner) minimal wages for decades. Ebenezer’s partner, the friendly and well-loved Jacob Marley died several years earlier. Poor Bob has also to help the two trainee accountants, Thomas and Richard (Blake Jenkins, Cooper Jenkins – great soft shoe shuffle) learn the trade. When Scrooge announces to his staff that they must come into work as normal on Christmas Day, the locals, Harold (Ashley Garner) and his friends (Cassidy Pemberton), Topper (Bonnie Kerslake) and Polly (Eliza Malcolm) are horrified and discuss Scrooge’s meanness.

       Bob lives in a decaying house with his dear wife, Mrs Cratchit (Hayley Grant) and their daughters, Belinda (Tahlia Menner) and Martha (Atira Shack). They also have a weak and disabled son, Tiny Tim (Orlando Borg – beautiful solo).

       Bob answers the office door to two charity workers, (Harriett Du Pont, Jenny Trestrail), who are asking for donations for the poor. As they leave empty handed, Scrooge’s nephew, Fred (George O’Doherty) and his girlfriend, Emily (Claudia Sciano) call around to invite Scrooge to their home for Christmas dinner – the reply is ‘bah humbug’.

On Christmas Eve, as the clock is striking midnight, Scrooge climbs into bed. Soon he is asleep. In a frightening dream sequence, he sees his old partner, Jacob Marley (Grant Malcolm – fabulous) wrapped in chains. Then he meets the Ghost of Christmas Past (Matilda Jenkins – beautiful voice), who shows him the happiness that once surrounded him as a schoolchild (Bradley Paulet) with young friends, Fan (Tashie Baker) and Wilkins (Jamie Buttery). Then, years later as a young man, Scrooge (Felix Malcolm) is seen spending his Christmas doing bookwork with his old kind boss, Fezziwig (David Major). Even a visit from his childhood sweetheart, (Jade Gibbons) fails to make him happy.

       The nightmare continues as the ebullient Spirit of Christmas Present (Nelson Clemente – more of a bubbly champagne than a ‘spirit’) appears as a wild Spanish dancer; with castanets clicking, he shows Scrooge the sadness and poverty of the Cratchit’s home, and the mercenary local pawnbroker (Wesley Williams) ripping off poor Mrs Dilbert (Georgia Dixon).

      Then the 3 metre tall Spirit of Christmas Future (Grant Malcolm), draped in black with a skeletal skull and arms, arrives and demonstrates to Scrooge what a difference he could make to his workers’ lives.

      Could life be changing for this wretched old miser?

This the year of the Scrooge. This version, directed by Justin Freind, is different to all of the others. It is filled with superb singing, fun and at times frightening ghosts. With a young cast, age range from eight to eighteen, the show sparkled and bounced along at a perfect pace. The numerous costumes were all carefully considered for the period and beautifully tailored by Jenny Prosser. Michelle Buttery’s makeup design was excellent, with Marley’s ghost looking particularly creepy.

With such a large cast, the importance of knowing how to move around the stage without bumping and causing chaos had been well learned. There were some novel touches, such as the white-faced ghosts wandering around Scrooge’s bedroom and then the audience.

Barry ‘Scrooge’ Park has been nominated this year for a Finley, and here he is with great characterisation and a soft, mellifluous voice, again proving why he was nominated.

An exceptional cast, I looked for the ensemble member who may nod off or be distracted – not even one, everybody was focused and dedicated.

Justin Freind’s shows are always quality, and this is another wonderful show to add to his résumé.

This 140-minute spectacle can be seen at the Old Mill Theatre, Corner Mends Street and Mill Point Road, South Perth, with performances each night at 7.30 (not as some adverts say ‘8.00’) until Saturday 13^th December  7.30 pm.

        When a typhoon passes through Kansas, Aunt Em’s house is hurtled through the air and lands on an evil witch, killing her. Her sister, Olga (Craig Menner), the ugly, wicked Witch of the East decides to take revenge on Aunt Em (Trish Theisinger), young Dorothy (Arianne Westcott-King), and their scruffy dog, Toto (Harrison Wake). However, Olga notices that Dorothy has bright ruby-red slippers with magical properties and is determined to have them.

        Dorothy was getting very worried about Olga’s threat, when Glinda (Nicole Miller) the good Fairy of the West arrives with her hapless friend, Letitia (Trevor Dhu). Glinda explains that Dorothy should travel to the Emerald City to see the Wizard of Oz and seek his help – just follow the yellow brick road. So, guided by the gatekeeper (Rex Gray), Dorothy set off in search of the Wizard with a group of delightful, little people – the Munchkins.

        On her way, Dorothy met a scarecrow (Tim Prosser) leaning on a fence, he had a beautiful singing voice, but no brain. Next, she met a very timid lion (Neil Cartmell), who desperately needed some courage, and finally she met a Tinman (Sarah Christiner), who would love to have a heart. Farther down the road, Dorothy was surprised to meet a famous pop singer, a King from the 70s (a totally unrecognisable Ted Bull). Olga’s mischievous helpers, the wild monkeys, attack the party. Even if the group survives this, there is still the Wizard’s obstinate Chamberlain (Matthew Styles) to get past.

The children, aged from 5 to 14, played the loveable, happy Munchkins and the diabolical, trouble-making Monkeys. The children were magnificent, the Munchkins smiled constantly as they performed, danced in perfect sync and sang with gusto. Their costumes (as for all the others, were designed by Jenny Prosser, Susan Sator, Maree Grayden) were delightful. The Monkeys, with their threatening baboon like faces, glowered and snarled as they leapt around doing cartwheel. Their makeup (designed by Nicolle Miller, and Lisa Piggott) was most impressive, and considering the number of youngsters involved a huge amount of work. Jenny Prosser made most of the costumes. The Tinman’s costume really rattled and clanged as he walked – poor Sarah must have suffered inside, but it was worth it.

Once again, the sets needed that extra sparkle and with Maree Grayden, Ben Davis and Phil Barnett’s input Tim Prosser has done another sterling job with artworks for his set painting.

The Old Mill has some several LED lights that gives a new dimension to the scenery and the atmosphere. Ben and Flynn Vincent operated Ben Davis’ complex lighting design. Flynn is new to the bio box, so on the preview there were a couple of slow light changes, but considering the complexity of the show, I was most impressed and am sure he will be ‘spot’ on for the opening. Bree Vreedenburgh’s sound design required one or two unusual snippets, but this went well with crisp control by Jeremy Skinner.

As musical director, Bree Vreedenburgh had a huge amount of singing and dancing to cope with but the whole team worked very well.

The Munchkins were:- Sienna Birkett, Abbey Breust, Charlotte Broadbent, Caiden Cartmell, Kian Cartmell, Indigo Ellis, Anna Grayden, Hannah Harrison, Tahlia Menner, Grace Pooley, Atira Shack, Brooke Skinner, Naomi Skinner, Adele Stewart.

The evil Monkeys were:- Alexander Broadbent, Hannah Claux, Ryan Drummond, Megan Grayden, Madeline Hooker, Matthew Hutchinson, Kasey Pavlovich, Digby Petit, William Sartor, Aaron Skinner, Georgia Weston-Arnold.

Director Maree Grayden and her assistant Kylie Bywater’s can be most proud of this pantomime; it has all of the magical elements with some wonderful performances from the main characters.

Thoroughly enjoyable, children of all ages will love it – oh no they won’t – oh yes they WILL!