19th - 31st Dec
Ebenezer Scrooge: Noel Byrne Bob Cratchit: Antonia Christophers Other parts played by the puppets and company! Original Music composed and performed by Dan Melrose Directed by Mark Collier & Adam Lenson Adapted and devised by Noel Byrne, Antonia Christophers & Mark Collier Puppets designed and made by Noel Byrne & Antonia Christophers Set & Costume designed and made by Noel Byrne & Antonia Christophers Lighting Design Michael Hall Stage Manager Corin Hayes With very special thanks to Veronica Christophers for her help creating the costumes and endless hours of papier-mâchÊ!
Noel graduated with a BA (Hons) in Theatre Arts from Manchester's highly regarded Capitol Theatre School and later gained a PGCE from the University of Leeds. Noel’s professional work has been extremely varied, including everything from Shakespeare on stage to voice and motion capture for video games, often creating and devising new work, including pieces for Manchester's Contact Theatre and London's Royal Court. He has performed puppetry and skin work for music videos and large scale events. Television work includes the BBC's Doctor Who, The One Show and Mission 2110. Noel is also an award-winning street performer. In 2012, Noel co-founded Box Tale Soup, and is currently a full time Artistic Director and performer for the company.
Antonia trained at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Prior to forming her own theatre company, her performing credits included: Mhaegen in HBO’s Game of Thrones; Miss Peters in the BBC drama The Hour; Elaine in The Graduate, Buxton Opera House and UK tour. Antonia took the narrator role of Titania in a production of The Fairy Queen with the Handel & Haydn Society, Boston, performing at Tanglewood in 2017 and in Boston’s Jordan Hall in 2018. In 2012 she co-founded award winning theatre company Box Tale Soup, and is currently a full time Artistic Director and performer for the company.
Mark is a freelance director, educator and actor. He has worked with Box Tale Soup Theatre Company on numerous productions including The Picture of Dorian Gray, Little Grimm Tales, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Manalive!, Gone and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other directing/devising credits include: Gnora the Gnome’s Daytime Disco (National Tour) Up, Up, Up and Away (Online Family Show), Newsrevue (Canal Café Theatre), Aliens Love Underpants (National Tour) and Puppetry Director on Alice in Wonderland (Old Rep Birmingham). Mark is also an experienced workshop leader and has delivered workshops in disciplines including Shakespearean Text/Performance, Clowning, Puppetry, Improvisation and Comedy.
Adam is a director, dramaturg and producer based in London with a specific focus on new writing and new musical theatre. This is his second project with Box Tale Soup after directing their adaptation of The Turn Of The Screw in 2018. Directing includes: The Rink, Wasted, Superhero, The Fabulist Fox Sister (Southwark Playhouse), Songs For A New World (St James Theatre), Whisper House, 35mm (The Other Palace), Little Fish, Saturn Returns (Finborough Theatre), Ordinary Days (Trafalgar Studios), See What I Wanna See (Jermyn Street Theatre), Dark Tourism (Park Theatre). He has worked as an assistant and associate director to Stephen Daldry, John Doyle, Terry Johnson, Nancy Meckler and Roxana at venues including the West End, Old Vic and Royal Shakespeare Company. This year he co-founded theatrical.solutions which specialises in livestreaming, videography and digital theatre but also offers other affordable theatre production services.
Dan Melrose is a musician based in Manchester. He writes, records and performs music in a variety of genres. As well as performing as a singer/songwriter, Dan creates the fantastic original music that can be heard in Box Tale Soup’s shows. For some of these ventures he has also called on the talents of other musical friends, David Carden and Aidan Smith Dan has also produced music for documentary film and radio, and is involved with many different projects, embracing Hip Hop, Rock, Folk, Dance and Electronica amongst other things.
We hope you enjoy the show, and thank you so much for joining us! After such a strange and difficult year, Box Tale Soup are proud and grateful to be able to share their version of A Christmas Carol. If you'd like to know more about the company, visit our website at www.boxtalesoup.co.uk You can also find behind the scenes videos about the creation of the show on our YouTube channel just search for 'Box Tale Soup'. We can be found on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook as @BoxTaleSoup, so please do get in touch and let us know what you thought of the show! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!