“This piece was a beautiful combination of adult humour and poignant themes wrapped up with ghosts and christmas songs. “
A Queermas Carol was a beautifully well – rounded demonstration of how theatre should be a safe space, both shown through the actors’ vulnerability and also the clear demographic of the audience. The duo, accompanied by the disembodied voice of Charles Dickens (Micky Cochrane) and their wonderful special guest, Carmen Silk, brought some societally heavy topics to life in an engaging and playful way that had the whole audience on the edge of their seats with both laughter and anticipation.
The opening rap of the show was an immediate hook into the piece and also set the expectations of the audience – establishing that the audience was expected and encouraged to interact. As someone who loves immersive theatre, being given permission to interact and feel at the same level as the performers was a really nice addition. It also goes without saying that the opening rap set up the piece as being unapologetically camp – arguably to be expected from the title but was really lovely to be reflected by the performers and the way that they presented themselves in the space.
As in the original story, we were introduced to the ghosts – not just Marley and Marley, but also of Past, Present and Future, which is where we really saw the actors’ vulnerability. Rhi started this off by delving into the past, bringing themes of discovery of self and the feeling of isolation to the forefront. This was brilliantly done, as it allowed the performers to reflect feelings that I would guess a lot of the audience would have felt at some points in their life. Following this, in the Present, we saw a version of Bob Cratchitt and Tiny Tim that followed the realities of being transgender in the current society. This was particularly poignant due to the current potentialities of imposing governmental laws. My friend who attended with me spoke to Mack at the end, expressing her appreciation for that story being told as she has a trans partner – further proving how important it is for these stories to be told.
Of course, these themes weren’t just brought up in a straight forward way, no not at all. Rhi’s delving into the past was accompanied by the brilliant character that was the furbigotchi – no context needed, you’ll have to see the show – and Mack’s Bob Cratchitt moment was set up with him being portrayed as a ‘DILF’, both of which juxtaposed the seriousness of the stories being told beautifully, allowing us to laugh at the funny moments and listen when we needed to.
Carmen Silk brought a few minutes of cabaret style singing – obviously different depending on the guest you see, this will be different, but she had a lovely voice and connected incredibly well to the audience in the short time she was on stage.
Using Charles Dickens as a (mostly) just voice over character was a very well thought out choice, as it emphasised the way that the queerness of the characters was being policed, which I thought landed subtly but very well. I may be a bit biased, but I particularly enjoyed the ending of the piece after being entrusted to look after the Tiny Tim puppet (thanks Mack!). I won’t go into too much detail so as to not spoil this piece, but it was wrapped up in a lovely way that both kept the audience laughing but also left them satisfied.
Overall, I would highly recommend this piece to anyone looking for both a laugh and also to see themselves reflected in the stories told.