“Calm your jets, Bucket!” snipes Wonka at Charlie Bucket, portrayed by Amelia Minto – that’s right, Leeds Playhouse has taken the decision to gender-flip the role in its production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - The Musical.
The role of the good-natured tyke Charlie has been shared across four child actors, switching between performances. Young Minto had a real composure on the stage, carrying whole songs by herself and reeling off lines of dialogue with a sense of genuine affection and wonder.
Minto has proven that a young girl can embody the role just as well as any young boy. As the play progresses, you can’t help but emphasise with kind-hearted Charlie – who aims to make her birthday bar of chocolate last for one whole year until she receives her next treat.
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The Leeds Playhouse production, made in conjunction with the 2013 Broadway adaptation of the famous Roald Dahl children’s story, sees Charlie scrambling through a scrapyard and reinventing rubbish she finds into neat inventions for her poor family.
Could you think of anyone more deserving to receive one of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets? No, you couldn’t, least of all the other winners of the golden tickets, who get to visit the mysterious man's world famous chocolate factory.
The ghastly spoilt children are a delight to watch as they’re each introduced in a series of vignettes in the first act, giving the audience time to take in the characters, be fully introduced to their eccentricities and the concept of the show. This no doubt acts as a great benefit the younger members of the audience who may be completely new to Dahl’s extraordinary, dark and edgy story – full of manic colour and 1960s British quirks.
Scene stealer Kazmin Borrer stands out as the repulsive Veruca Salt as she twirls on-stage as a ballerina and flutters her eye lashes when demanding ‘more, more, again!’ from her downtrodden father Mr Salt, played amicably by Christopher Howell.
At the very end of the first act which last for about an hour, we finally get to meet the true star of the show Willy Wonka, portrayed by Gareth Snook (whose credits include Paddington 2 and Taboo). Snook has a commanding presence, offering a real devilish vim to the role of the amoral and slightly frightening chocolatier. He bursts onto the stage in song, tosses away flippant remarks and gags – and is just so much fun to watch.
The Oompa Loompas have also been portrayed in a rather sinister fashion in this production – although, none could hardly match the iconic factory workers in the Gene Wilder movie. The Oompa Loompas in this production resemble malevolent robotic figures, whose only role is to serve Wonka and admonish naughty children.
The show is a triumph – however, one can’t help feeling its drawn back by its lack of set. We explore Wonka’s Chocolate Factory with the aid of a video projection showing animated designs as Wonka’s tour progresses and each atrocious child is “maimed” (as Wonka puts it), falling foul of their own hubris. At first, the projection is slightly off-putting but it actually gets more impressive as the show continues. It allows for quick set changes, ensuring the play runs at a zippy pace as the crew wheels out a large set piece to aid each scene and the live orchestra strums away behind the curtains.
I always go back to Leeds Playhouse’s 2018 production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as what a truly awe-inspiring five-star production should look like. It was truly remarkable and innovative in the round production, which saw actors projected high into the air and the audience given leaves to flutter to signify spring as Aslan triumphed over the White Witch. As fun as this Dahl production was, the Playhouse set itself a tremendously high standard to match.
Leeds is truly blessed each year to have the Playhouse which offers a rich alternative to the schlocky pantomimes on offer across the majority of venues during the festive period. Once again, the venue proves it can put on a joyous production for all the family to enjoy.
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