21 November – 17 January
Ah! the rhythm of life – the leaves falling; the first winter frosts beginning to bite; the annual Christmas mash-up at the Wardrobe. These are a few of my favourite, seasonal things…
Now celebrating its tenth season at the Old Market Assembly in Bristol, Wardrobe Theatre have teamed up with Weston-Super-Mare’s Front Room fringe theatre to concoct this year’s cocktail of silly nonsense, merciless lampooning and potty mouthing – a quasi jukebox musical that hits you right in the Dickens!
Three of Bristol’s funniest actors – Kim Heron, Emma Keaveney-Roys and Alice Lamb, all with impressive Wardrobe pedigrees from former triumphs on this little stage, team up with Peter Baker (likewise) who plays the dastardly Scrooge/Duke in this modified parable of greed and enlightenment. The show is given plenty of drive from Front Room Theatre co-Creative Directors Adam Fuller and Emma Keaveney-Roys.
On Ruby Brown’s lovingly created stage that echoes the charm of the Parisian skyline that features in the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film, the four players present a seamless zipping together of Victorian villainy and noughties glitz while sewing song lyrics into the narrative with comedic, sometimes ribald effect – “I feel it in my fingers”… “It’s a little bit funny”… “I can’t get you out of my head”… etc.
Moustachioed Kim Heron sizzles as Moulin Rouge impresario Zidler, twirling through the evening with her silver tipped cane rotating like a propeller, dispensing deluded optimism and despair in equal measure with aplomb.
Keaveney-Roys wins out on the belly laughs stakes for her full-on and very full-fronted interpretation of Satine, the ‘jewel’ of the show. Based originally on the French can-can dancer Jane Avril, Keaveney-Roys brings a hilarious no-shit Aussie feminist twist to the role. Summoning a much coarser version of Nicole Kidman’s portrayal of the stricken showgirl, her reprise of the star’s hilariously steamy scene with her ‘poet’ amour is a memorable takeaway.
Alice Lamb gives us a Christian/Cratchit composite, a young ‘lad’ both horribly manipulated by his uncle, then bamboobzled (sic) by a salacious Satine, much to the merriment of an animated audience. Baker plays his Scrooge/Duke with a tongue flickering, dark presence that almost threatens to undermine the overall jollity of the occasion, but provides plenty of foil to his fellow actors’ levity.
The mash-up develops well. As Scrooge/Duke takes over the Moulin Rouge, Zidler, Satine and Christian/Cratchit combine to summon the spirit of Marley with some creative use of white sheets that are a credit to Movement Director Laura Street – enough at least to scare the old miser into a joyous new life and the salvation of the venue!
This being a Christmas show, it does, of course, feature the willing/unwilling involvement of various unprepared audience members, before a karaoke-style singalong is aided by some impressive autocue card manipulation by the cast.
This Scrooge/Duke’s search through the darkened Moulin Rouge at midnight for his salvation will ultimately leave everyone with the toasty warmth of a story well told.
★★★★☆ Simon Bishop, 27 November 2025
Photography credit: Jack Offord
