Rose Theatre Kingston Announces Cast of A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Today Rose Theatre Kingston announces the casting for its Christmas production of Charles Dickens's enchanting story A Christmas Carol. Following last year's critically acclaimed festive hit The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Ciaran McConville once again directs a cast of young actors from the Rose Youth Theatre led by a team of professional actors including Martin Ball (Scrooge), Tomm Coles (Bob Cratchit), Jon Trenchard (Fred), Anne-Marie Piazza (Mrs Fezziwig, Emily Cratchit and Mrs Filch), Anthony Hunt (Joe, Jacob Marley and Belle's Husband), Elisa Boyd (Belle, Kate, and Charity Lady) and Paul Hawkyard (Fezziwig and the Ghost Of Christmas Present).

Ebenezer Scrooge hates Christmas. He hates charity, he hates carol singers and more than anything he hates spending money.

But this is a year like no other as Scrooge is propelled on a helter-skelter, supernatural ride through Christmases past, present and future. From carefree youth to misguided greed, from snowscapes to city streets, this is an epic adventure of the imagination. Will Scrooge open his heart to the true spirit of Christmas before it's too late?

Martin Ball plays Scrooge. His theatre work includes The Phantom of the Opera (West End), Top Hat (national tour & West End), LES MISERABLES (West End), Mary Poppins (national tour), Wicked (West End original cast), Mamma Mia (West End), Dead Funny (Nottingham Playhouse), Charley's Aunt (Sheffield Crucible), The Taming of the Shrew (Nuffield Southampton) and The Importance of Being Earnest (national tour). His film work includes Doomsday, Pappadopolous & Son, Flood and Ali G Indahouse. Television work includes Bernard's Watch, Home Farm Twins, Keeping Mum, Chalk, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Down To Earth, My Family and The Thick of It.

Elisa Boyd plays Belle, Kate, and Charity Lady. Her theatre work includes Sweet Charity (New Wolsey), The Borrowers (Northern Stage), Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show (tour), A Christmas Carol (Trafalgar Studios), A Big Day for the Goldbergs (New End Theatre), Sunset Boulevard (West End), She Stoops to Conquer (Birmingham Rep), Amadeus (Wilton's Music Hall), Gift of the Magi (King's Head), Lord Arthur Saville's Crime (Tour), Take Five (Trafalgar Studios), Romeo and Juliet (tour). Television work includes Orchestra and Good Job, Thanks!. Film includes London to Brighton, Sogni d'oro, Art in Heaven, Children of Sorrow, Lola Malady, Standing Room Only, The Sun Always Shines and Galatea.

Tomm Coles plays Bob Cratchit. He returns to the Rose having previously performed in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. His theatre work for the Watermill Theatre includes Oliver!, Sunset Boulevard (also West End), Mack and Mabel (also West End), James and the Giant Peach, Pinocchio. His other theatre credits include Propaganda Swing (Coventry Belgrade and Nottingham Playhouse), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Royal Festival Hall), Sweet Charity (Belfast MAC), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (Chichester Festival Theatre and Theatre Royal Haymarket, West End), Miss Nightingale (UK tour), The Human Comedy (Young Vic), Death of a Salesman (West Yorkshire Playhouse),The Secret Garden (Edinburgh Festival Theatre and Toronto), Fiddler on the Roof (West End), Romeo and Juliet (Clwyd Theatr Cymru), Animal Farm (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Sleeping Beauty (Birmingham Rep). Film work includes Gullivers' Travels and Muppets Most Wanted.

Paul Hawkyard plays Fezziwig and the Ghost of Christmas Present. His theatre work includes War Horse (National Theatre, West End), Wonderful Town (Royal Exchange), Birdsong (The Comedy Theatre), Oliver! (Louder Than Words), Mamma Mia (West End), Peter Pan (Royal Festival Hall), South Pacific (National Theatre), LES MISERABLES (West End), Pippin (Bridewell Theatre), Jesus Christ Superstar (West End), Oliver! (West End) and Miss Saigon (West End). Television Credits include Old Jack's Boat and Mike Bassett England Manager.

Anthony Hunt plays Joe, Jacob Marley and Belle's Husband. His theatre work includes The Commitments (West End), Cabaret (Donmar Warehouse), The Snowman (Almeida Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Romeo and Juliet (Stafford Gatehouse), Mother Courage (The Lowry), A Government Inspector and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Northern Broadsides), Anne and Zef (Salisbury Playhouse), Guys and Dolls (national tour) and James and the Giant Peach (Bolton Octagon).

Anne-Marie Piazza plays Mrs Fezziwig, Emily Cratchit and Mrs Filch. Her theatre work includes Day of the Living (We Light Up The House), These Trees Are Made of Blood (Southwark Playhouse), Twelfth Night, Richard III (Iris Theatre), Dickens' Ghosts (Cheltenham Playhouse), Snow Spider (Ovalhouse), What Every Woman Knows (Finborough), Alice in Wonderland (Nuffield), Oh What a Lovely War (Haymarket Basingstoke) and Hanging Around (National/Kneehigh). Film work includes The Promoter.

Jon Trenchard plays Fred. His theatre work includes: The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh), Fiddler on the Roof (national tour), She Stoops to Conquer, A Government Inspector (Northern Broadsides), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bristol Old Vic), Swallows & Amazons (West End & national tour), Animal Farm (Theatr Clwyd), Oh What a Lovely War (Northern Stage), Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night (for Propeller, touring internationally), Sunset Boulevard (The Watermill), Mack & Mabel (The Watermill, National Tour & West End), Great Expectations (New Vic Theatre), Last Supper (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre). Film work includes The Da Vinci Code and television work includes My Family.

Ciaran McConville has adapted the play and also directs. Ciaran studied at the University of Durham before training as an actor at ArtsEd. Since 2010, he has been Director of Learning and Participation at Rose Theatre Kingston. Directing includes: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Rose Theatre Kingston). For Rose Youth Theatre, he has directed: TimeQuake (Hampton Court Palace), Animal Farm, Momentous, Nineteen Eighty-Four; Stay With Me; Toad, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, The Crucible, Echoes of Ibsen, Scenes from Childhood; The Selfish Giant; Hamlet; Two; The Beggar's Opera; The Girl Who Never Forgot, Musicians; Lay Your Sleeping Head, The Man Who Dreamed and The Gift of the Magi. Ciaran has also written and directed a number of short films for Rose Youth Theatre, including Look at You, Séance, Rage and The Curse of Death's Glen. He co-directed Arabian Nights and has directed over thirty rehearsed readings at the Rose. As a writer, Ciaran's stage-plays include: My Kingdom is a Horse!, Erica the Viking, Stones, In the Way of Peace, Scenes from Childhood, Stay With Me, Lay Your Sleeping Head, Our Town: A Kingston Story, Pitching In, Over Me Now There is Only Blue Sky and God, Leipzig 1981, The Realm, Snowbound, My Father the Angel (both developed at the National Theatre Studio), These Four Walls, Shostakovich; MiracleBoy, The Curse of Death's Glen, Little Crooked House, Touched by Fire, Immortal or the Legend of Squadron 463, The Man Who Dreamed and The Settling Dust. Adaptations for the stage include: Treasure Island, Nineteen Eighty-Four; The Trial, Arabian Nights, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and the hit show Horrible Histories: Ruthless Romans, which toured internationally.

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