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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 30, 2024 8:52:04 GMT
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Post by ceebee on Nov 30, 2024 9:00:40 GMT
Please can we order four of these signs for each entrance to the Canterbury market, which is a miserable dire experience. |
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Post by doctorshaw on Nov 30, 2024 11:59:24 GMT
My wife and I went to the Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas market last week (and also to the Rep for A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story). Both were disappointing.
The market boasts dozens on stalls but most of them are identical clones of each other falling into one of two categories: booze or sausages. Barely any stalls selling decorations, hardly a nutcracker in sight, although there was a nice cuckoo clock stall. In terms of food there were churros, sausages, nuts, chocolate fruit skewers, donuts, gingerbread. The nuts and gingerbread were best.
The play was a bit disappointing too - not bad but not wow. I've not seen previous iterations of this version such as the Ally Pally one so if anyone saw those please let me know if they were better! My gripes were:
1) Cast too small with top much multi rolling. The ghosts shouldn't have had other roles, it broke the magic for me.
2) The special effects are ok but not amazing, and most of the best ones were all in the Marley scene leaving the remainder of the play a bit lacklustre.
3) Scrooge should've flown on wire. It's not that difficult to achieve.
My positives were:
1) Very good cast especially Scrooge and Christmas Present.
2) Interesting set design although a grander doorway for Scrooge's residence would've been nice.
3) The staging for Marley's scenes was very good.
Overall I wouldn't recommend a trip to Birmingham for Christmas this year!
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Post by showgirl on Dec 2, 2024 4:04:26 GMT
Please can we order four of these signs for each entrance to the Canterbury market, which is a miserable dire experience. My sister & I visited Canterbury last year for the Xmas market & thought it was very poor: few stalls other than food & drink. This clinched our decision to give up overnight stays & visits to medium/large towns in the hope of finding any old-style markets & to stick to day trips to small, local ones. |
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Post by showgirl on Dec 2, 2024 4:10:18 GMT
Re small, local, independently-run Xmas markets: a very small, local one indeed & a single-day event which has now taken place for this year, but for anyone reasonably local to the area, I can recommend the market in Redbourn, Herts (very approximately north of St Albans). My sister & I visited yesterday & apart from the weather, it was ideal: well-organised, small, full of genuinely local small producers; only a few stalls selling food & drink - with mulled wine the only alcohol for consumption there - provision of toilets & a covered place to sit & rest/have a hot drink (village hall in small square off market itself) & manageable numbers. We both agreed that it was exactly what we had been looking for & we enjoyed it & bought a selection of goods.
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