The young stars of Get On Stage served up a festive treat at Trinity Theatre last weekend, as they presented us with some short Christmassy plays along with a full musical version of Scrooge…A Ghost of a Chance.

The Dickens theme appears in the first short piece, Scrooge’s Christmas Eve, skilfully directed by Bella Davis, as we meet Santa and Mrs Claus (Edward Cox and Maisie Holt) delivering gifts on that special night, only to encounter Scrooge himself – a lovely crotchety performance by Lillie Newson, and his old nemesis Marley, played by Ruby Gilpin.

The Christmas Cuckoo features a story within a story: Bethany Hardy is perfectly cast as Granny, who tells the tale of two brothers who disturb a cuckoo, and ‘adopt’ the bird. In spring, the cuckoo repays their kindness by gifting a branch – except one represents wealth and the other peace and joy. Which brings more happiness?

Next up is an adaptation of the famous poem ‘The Night Before Christmas’ as a radio interview with the family who saw Santa that night, complete  with announcer played by Donna Louise who also directed the piece.

The Fight Before Christmas features a wonderful performance from Pollie Newson as Callous Coal, clearly relishing playing the baddie. Her attempts to ruin Christmas result in the fight of the title but order is restored.

Finally for the first half we saw Celebrity Christmas Capers in which Santa, Mrs Claus and Rudolph vie to have their photo taken for newspaper fame. Lillie Newson directed this one – in fact, every one of the above pieces was directed by a young member of Get On Stage. This is a youth group that gives the youngsters a chance to experiment with and learn every aspect of theatre. Members not only acted and directed, but made props and costumes and painted the set – a very effective Christmas fireplace with a tree and fairylights. The set was otherwise kept simple, with a few furniture pieces moved between plays – again by the young performers.

The second half of the programme comprised a musical retelling of Dickens’ Christmas classic, with Ruby Gilpin doing a great job as the narrator. We meet Scrooge, played with full ‘Humbug’ by Alexis-Faith McCoy, in his counting house, dismissing Fred (Sophia Wherry) and the two gentlemen collecting for charity (Daniel Thompson and Teddy Thompson) before grouching at Bob Cratchit (Edward Cox). Millie Smith gives a good chain-rattling performance as Jacob Marley, heralding the appearance of the three ghosts who show Scrooge his past, present and future. I loved the Ghost of Christmas Past (Olivia Smith) whisking Scrooge off to Fezziwig’s ball – the complete opposite to the atmosphere in his own cold office and home.

Indeed, the real strength of this piece is the ensemble numbers – the choreography is lively, the singing enthusiastic and the music catchy. Every young actor contributes to the effect, as well as each having their own moment to shine – notable performances in this half include Cassidy Percy as young Scrooge and Lilley Lord as his first love Belle; Francesca McCourt as a playful Ghost of Christmas Present and George Mulhern as a wonderfully cute Tiny Tim.

The whole show was a perfect introduction to the festive season and a showcase of all that Get On Stage has achieved in its relatively short time as an Island youth theatre – I congratulate all those involved on what they have done so far and look forward to seeing them progress even further next year. And to judge from the applause, the rest of the audience enjoyed ‘Scrooge’ just as much as I did!