When I saw that a theatre company not for from us was putting on a stage version of the Hogfather, I jumped at the chance to book tickets. Having read the book and seen the film many times, I thought it would be very interesting to see how they managed this production.
It was a very wet and cold evening when we set off and there were problems from the start. An accident on the motorway meant a 30 minute journey took over an hour. So, we had missed the beginning by the time we finally arrived. The staff were really good, quietly and efficiently finding us some seats. We knew the story well so could catch up from what we had missed.
We were in a small room with the audience on three sides surrounding the stage area. This meant there were times when cast members had to have their backs to some of the audience and some needed to project more as they couldn't be heard. easily. The stage setting was simple, but clever, with a large 3 sided pyramid at the back which was turned to change the scenes. Moving easily from Susan's room to the Tooth fairy's castle and then to other rooms using just two fireplaces worked really well. A screen above the stage was also helped showing still photographs from different settings and videos of the "Hogfather" and Albert flying high on the sleigh which was effective and really fun.
Death played by John Deighton was good and glided in an very otherworldly way. Albert (Paul Tonkinson) was suitably grumpy. I was very impressed that he actually ate a pork pie while still saying his lines. Mr. Te-a-tim-e (Mitch Hone) gave a really good performance moving from being overly friendly to murderous with ease.
Susan (Rachel Ryan) could have stepped out of the film. Her interactions with Death were touching, trying to live a normal life while have extraordinary things happening around her. Her sparring with Teatime worked well in the all-round stage setting.
Shout out to some of the smaller parts as well. Banjo (Pauline Swaby-Lowe) was perfect with a child like view of the world and very definite rules to follow. Nobby (Patrick James) was the best I've seen. Scratching and probing while delivering his lines was so funny and slightly disgusting.
Arch Chancellor Ridcully (Billy Woolrich) was an interesting choice. More friendly, much less shouty and with a American drawl. The dynamics between Ridcully and Ponder Stibbons (Michael Forrester) was quite different because of this. However Stibbons was good, nerdy and enthusiastic. HEX was very cute and portable with a small have a FTB.
The only real problem I had was occasionally I couldn't hear what was being said. The Auditors while looking great and suitably menacing were too quiet and Violet Bottler (Charlotte Tonkinson) spoke in such a high voice that her words were sometimes lost.
Overall, a strong and fun performance reminding us of the true meaning of Hogwatch, the need for the little lies and ended with a Hogswatch Carol.