Seat: Circle, Q6 | Show: Saturday 15th July Evening
After runs on both Broadway and the West End, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has embarked on a tour around the UK. In case you are unaware of the story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is based on the book by Roald Dahl and follows Charlie Bucket and his family as they try to get by with their circumstances. Charlie loves inventing new ideas for candy, and when Willy Wonka announces the reopening of his factory, Charlie and his Uncle Joe long to go. A competition meaning that 5 lucky children will receive golden tickets and get the chance to tour the incredible factory. Unfortunately for Charlie, the tickets seem to be found one by one and the children who find them aren’t the most deserving. With one ticket left, Charlie gets one last chance after finding some money on the street and is amazed to find himself the fifth holder of Wonka’s golden ticket.
Perhaps best known for its filmic adaptations, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s onstage endeavours falls short for me unfortunately. The cast (who I will name later) were all great, so my main issue lies with the material and direction itself. Many of the songs aren’t memorable other than the obvious ‘Pure Imagination’ and we don’t even get to the factory until the second act – I understand the desire for a big reveal at the beginning of act 2, but this could easily be achieved earlier. Leaving it until act 2 means that the audience are just waiting for the first act to be over instead of enjoying it fully. This does cause pacing struggles within the show as well as the first act may feel slightly a bit too long (though it does allow us to get to know the characters more than we perhaps would’ve done otherwise) and the second feels a bit rushed trying to show us all the areas of the factory.
When we do finally get to see Wonka’s factory, unfortunately the reveal isn’t as exciting as you would hope it’d be. I can understand that it may be difficult to represent the fantastical factory onstage, but it should at least feel much more impactful than it did. The set (by Simon Higlett) worked really well in act 1 but once we get to act 2, it becomes quite bare, and they try to make up for this with the onscreen projection (designed by Simon Wainwright). I feel as though the projection is relied on too much and loses its magic because of this. While I know there are so many different rooms in the factory that would maybe require too many set pieces to take on tour, focusing solely on the projection leaves a lot to be desired.
The costumes, also done by Simon Higlett fit the vibe of the story well in my opinion, looking cartoonish enough for the outlandish Roald Dahl characters while telling you what you need to know about the characters. In this version of the show, the Oompa Loompas are robotic beings which is slightly strange, but considering the problematic origins of other versions, I think the idea works well enough for what they are needed for.
Throughout the show, the direction by James Brining is well done and helped to progress the story along, but nothing particularly stood out to me. I found that there were several moments where nothing was happening onstage, or silence went on for too long that the child-heavy audience could become slightly restless or bored. But overall, I appreciate the hard work that will have gone into this show by the creative team even if it didn’t really work for me.
This show’s cast is a good one and I think they do the best with the material they are given. In this show, all of the child characters except for Charlie are played by adult actors, which is understandable due to the touring circumstances and means that you don’t feel as bad for disliking them and hoping for their downfall. The difference between them and Charlie is noticeable, but I don’t think this is a huge problem as we are supposed to think Charlie is much more genuine and innocent as a character.
In this production, Charlie has been cast with 2 boys and 2 girls, which I think is a great idea as I don’t think it makes much of a difference what Charlie’s gender is as long as they are as endearing and kind as we are used to. In the performance I saw, Haydn Court played the young Charlie Bucket and meets these criteria really well – he was a terrific actor with a great voice. His relationship with Michael D’Cruze as Grandpa Joe is believable and D’Cruze does feel like he would be your favourite grandpa. When the two of them are onstage together, I did get somewhat of a cosy feeling of nostalgia.
The rest of Charlie’s family are double cast as the parents of the other children, and for me, this is a great casting choice. When playing Mrs Bucket, Leonie Splisbury uses British Sign Language which is a nice bit of representation for the deaf community. Some may argue that it doesn’t serve much of a purpose as she is the only character to use it (except Charlie when he is speaking to her), but I think it is just a nice depiction of everyday life with a deaf family member.
Playing the other children were Robin Simões da Silva as Augustus Gloop, Marisha Morgan as Violet Beauregarde, Kazmin Borrer as Veruca Salt and Teddy Hinde as Mike Teavee. The four of them do a great job as annoying kids and do exaggerate the Roald Dahl-like qualities of their respective characters. I feel like we don’t see as much of them as you would expect, but they do make the most of their time on stage, especially Hinde and Morgan.
Willy Wonka, played by Gareth Snook, does feel slightly more sinister in this version but is still the incredibly outlandish character we all fondly remember. Snook’s interpretation of the role is certainly an interesting one and does fit the template of this mysterious figure that is unknowable. I think he could have a bit more childlike wonder, but he works well within this production as the witty factory owner who doesn’t care much about the aftermath of what has happened to the other children.
Overall, this show wasn’t my favourite, but much of the audience around me seemed to love it. I think it’s still a great night out, especially for families, so give it a watch to see what you think of it.
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