Tags
A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Carol film, Charles Dickens, Die Hard, Ebenezer Scrooge, Gerald Dickens: My Life on the Road With A Christmas Carol, Its a Wonderful Life, Leicester Cathedral, Leicester Guildhall
Saturday, 23 December: the last day of this year’s tour. As has become a firm tradition I would be driving to the city of Leicester to perform in the ancient and beautiful Guildhall. During the days since Highclere my insurance company delivered a new rental car to the house, and my damaged car was finally returned to me meaning that I could use my own props once more.
Liz had set off to the shops to buy the Christmas dinner ingredients, and when she returned I got on the road at around 9.20. Now, I like to arrive at a venue on time, I rather pride myself on it, and on Saturday I seriously nailed it. I was due to arrive at The Guildhall at 11, and as I opened my car door the great Cathedral bell began to strike the hour – I was rather pleased with myself!.
I walked along the narrow alley to the front door of the Guildhall and was met by my old friend Ben, the manager at the venue. He helped me to unload the car and then I took the car to the nearby NCP car park, before walking back past the huge Ferris wheel and skating rink which are erected each Christmas season. The original oldest part of the Guildhall was built in 1390, and the wonderful timbers and crooked walls lend a perfect backdrop for the show. A fire had been lit in the grate and chairs were laid out for two sell-out performances, and I spent some time simply sitting in the empty room thinking about the shows to come.
By 12 the first of the audience were gathering, so I went upstairs to the Jury Room which doubles as my dressing room. There is a sort of wooden window in one of the walls which can be opened so that in days past jury members could look down into the main chamber below, meaning that I could hear the audience gather beneath me as I prepared my costumes.
They crowd sounded a festive bunch! I got into costume, and made sure that everything was in order before going to the back of the hall as the Cathedral bell struck 1. The show was to have a slightly complicated start to it, in that Ben would introduce me (heavily plugging my book as he did) and I would be responsible for playing the opening sound effect on a small CD player at the back of the room before commencing my walk to the stage through the middle of the audience. Meanwhile, Ben would be running around the outside of the hall to get back in to stop the CD before it launched into the second track – Mr Fezziwig’s fiddle player giving his ‘Sir Roger de Coverley’, which wouldn’t really be appropriate for the sombre, atmospheric scenes of the opening passages. I was relieved that even as I reached the stage I could see Ben opening the door at the back of the hall.
The audiences in Leicester are always great to perform for, not as lively and boisterous as their Liverpudlian counterparts, but they are so wrapped up in the performance, in the words, in the drama and in the various messages that the story delivers. At first the group was silent, which worried me slightly in that none of the usual chuckles were there (Bob Cratchit being ‘warmer than Scrooge’, the ‘blind men’s dogs’ seeing him coming down the street, and the question as to what is particularly dead about a door knocker always raise little laughs), until a very smartly dressed little girl in the front row (she must have been 8 or 9 maybe), giggled infectiously at some line or other: the purity of that laugh in the old hall was truly infectious and the flood gates were open. I could have hugged her.
Quite often my shows in Leicester are physically difficult coming, as they do, after the entire tour. I am often fatigued and my voice is often tired (last year was particularly difficult following on from my bout of Covid and the subsequent medical issues which debilitated me more than I was aware at the time), but this year I had enjoyed two days off since Highclere, and was feeling in very fine fettle. The first show played out superbly, and the audience applauded loudly as I returned to the small stage to take my bows. When I returned to the Mayor’s Parlour to sign my books there was a long line waiting for me. The comments were so nice, some saying they were regulars of many years, whilst others told me that this were their first experience of my show and would certainly be coming back!
When I had finished, I changed and then walked into the Christmassy streets of Leicester to do a little last-minute shopping. As in Liverpool, and to a certain extent Leeds, it was wonderful to be out among the festive shoppers, with superb decorations lighting the streets and enjoying a real sense of the season.
Shopping done, I went to my hotel to check in, and then relaxed on the bed watching my favourite Christmas Film, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. I got as far as the scene in which George Bailey is being seduced by the awful Mr Potter, being bribed with unimaginable wealth and an endless supply of huge cigars, before I had to leave for the Guildhall again.
I had made sure that the stage was set ready for the opening of the show, but I checked again (as Santa Clause will attest to, it is always good to check things twice), and then went to get ready for the evening’s show, the 52nd time that I would perform A Christmas Carol this year. There was a slight concern about Ben’s ability to introduce me, as some food had stuck in his throat, almost choking him and for a while he was struggling badly. If he was incapacitated, I decided that I would open the show as I had done at Byers’ Choice, explaining to the audience that this was an important day (final show on my 30th anniversary tour), and would begin by reading the opening passages from my green book. In the Jury Room I went through the opening a few times, working out the best moment to move from reading to unscripted performance, but in the end Ben had recovered and we were able to go back to the original system.
The evening show was amazing. It was one of the strongest and most theatrically dramatic shows I have performed, it just felt good! The audience once again were wrapped up in the event, but had good reason to cheer loudly when, on the final performance of my thirtieth anniversary tour, the top hat landed perfectly on my head! Thank you Charles, or Jacob or Clarence, or whoever was watching over me at that precise moment.
The ovation at the end was superb, and I soaked up the applause taking bows to both sides of the hall as the Christmas revellers stood, stamped and shouted – what a way to end.
Once again there was a good queue for my books, with a lot of GCSE students who have been studying A Christmas Carol for their exams also wanting their school books signed. Many regular attendees told me that they believed this to be the strongest performance that they had seen me deliver, and it certainly had felt that way to me.
Soon it was time to pack up and I left the Guildhall for the last time.
In the hotel I ordered a pizza from the 24hr room service menu and I watched another Christmas movie, Die Hard (I know, controversial territory there, but I suppose the fact it was being shown on 23rd December, on the same channel that had shown ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ earlier, qualifies it). The adrenaline was still circulating and it took me a long time to finally get to sleep, but sure enough the 2023 tour had come to a close.
As always at this time, I would like to thank all of the event organisers who have given me such a fun time over the last few months, but most of all the audience members who come out to join me in the retelling of Charles Dickens’ ghostly little book. It is my honour and my pleasure to share it with you.