Q&A: Why Christmas is the most wonderful time of the (theatre) year

Tuesday 27 December 2022

For more than a century, this theatre club have been delighting islanders with marvellous musical spectacles... What's the secret to keeping the sparkle after so many iconic Christmas shows? And what's on the agenda for next year?

After dazzling audiences with Chicago and an Evening of Sondheim earlier this year, the Jersey Green Room Club have now launched into 'Nativity', a musical adaptation of the hit 2009 British comedy, which will be running at the Trinity Showground until Monday 2 January.

Ahead of that, Express caught up with Director Scott Livingstone and Club Chair Ryan Williams...

Putting on a show is a tough feat at any time. Is there additional pressure to make a Christmas performance extra special?

Christmas is a very hectic time of year for everyone: when people are already super busy, committing to a show is really demanding.

But being part of a Christmas show allows you to share the holiday season with a real extended family - plenty of parties, celebrating and festive friendship!

For many cast members, it's their favourite time to be part of a show.

How many people are involved in the production? 

Well, we’ve got a lead creative team of five, a cast of 59 and a committee of 14.

Then we have Rob Ritchie and his team from Stage 2 Productions who take care of our technical and staging requirements, our amazing wardrobe team, five brilliant musicians, parents and chaperones to make sure our younger cast members are looked after, a digital graphic designer and a big front of house crew… so there's well over 100 people involved!

Pictured: There are more than 100 people involved in the Jersey Green Room Club's upcoming show 'Nativity'.

All of the cogs of our well-oiled machine are equally as important as the next, and are necessary to make sure the shows run smoothly.

The age range of our cast is broad - we range from six to 60!

What can people expect from Nativity?

Nativity is a fast-paced, quick witted, Christmas classic. It’s enchanting, funny and has a great message… and some very catchy songs - that always helps!

My hope is that people will leave the show feeling like they’ve had a couple hours of high-standard entertainment and that the time they spend with us is spent laughing.

What is the club looking forward to for the New Year?

We look forward to a jam-packed production schedule with Barnum, Elf and Shrek coming to the stage... so lots of great shows for everyone to enjoy!

We are so grateful to our brilliant audiences and supporters, and we hope they will continue to fill our auditoriums with laughter and applause for years to come.

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This article first appeared in Connect Magazine, which you can read in full below...