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An epic and ambitious production bringing an old story into the 21^st century

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory currently running at the Liverpool Empire is certainly putting chocolate front and center, as well as bringing its story firmly in the 21st century. To attempt to put an entire chocolate factory on stage is something most wouldn’t even consider, but if for a moment you do, you can understand just how ambitious a production this was. And it was designed and executed brilliantly. The set must be the most extensive I’ve ever seen, and the use of animated backdrops and screens along with it was extremely creative. At times this ambition felt a bit risky because the actors had to time their direction perfectly with the screen behind them. For example, at one point, Willy Wonka plays with a ball of light throwing it in the air for the backdrop to show it whizzing around before landing back in his hand. Gareth Snook, who plays Wonka, had to get both his timing and positioning on point for it to work, and he did it perfectly. The illusions created with the set were captivating and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was transported at times.

The production I saw had Charlie portrayed as a girl, which of course works easily with Charlie being a unisex name. Some may have found this adaptation too far from the original story, but I loved it. There are many old stories which focus heavily on the male characters and with the three main characters in the original story being men, I thought it was a fitting change to bring it into the 21^st century. There is nothing about Charlie that means they must be a boy, and so why should they be? Especially when you have a young actor as talented as Harmony Raine Riley, who was a fantastic Charlie Bucket. Despite being the smallest person on the stage she owned it, and her voice was fantastic. She never missed a beat and belted out every song. The other young actors were also brilliant, as was Wonka (Gareth Snook), and Grandpa Joe (Michael D’Cruze) was a favourite of mine with spot-on Grandpa Joe energy. I also very much enjoyed the comedy brought by the news reporter characters.

The costume design was fantastic and I particularly loved those worn by the Oompa Loompas, which were depicted as sort of metal people with a different costume for each scene they were in: a good move away from the racist undertone this part once carried. Their first entrance was a stand-out dramatic moment thanks to the lighting design.

There was also the addition of British Sign Language integrated seamlessly within Charlie’s family’s scenes, something that should be done more often on stage.

The songs weren’t the strongest compared to other musicals I have seen, though the cast and orchestra performed them wonderfully. In amongst many songs of lesser impact there were some magical moments, particularly the famous ‘Pure Imagination’ number.

Some people may find the story too adapted from the original, but for me the alterations were appropriate. I thought many elements of this production were fantastic but the songs themselves were not always very interesting. It wasn’t an emotional or hilarious production, but I understand this comes with it being aimed at an audience of children. However, with this in mind it should have been shorter with the first act particularly being quite long. 

Overall, this show was an impressive spectacle. The amount of effort put in by the huge team bringing this together is no mean feat. I would certainly recommend not it just for children, but all ages – just don’t forget to bring your own chocolate!