I love going to Hull Truck; the theatre is very family friendly, they always put on excellent productions and you feel really close to the stage and action.
Our family tradition of going to their Christmas Show started back in 2016 with Treasure Island when I took my son for the first time age 7. I’ve taken him every year since (except the pandemic year when we watched their online show!) and now he’s 12. This year I also took my daughter age 8 and my mum for a family evening out. My husband came into town with us too but went across the road to watch the England v France world cup game; we all know how that ended so I can safely say we had a much better night out!
This years show is A Christmas Carol. We had actually seen it at Hull Truck in 2017 and this is a new twist on the classic tale. For the first time, deaf actors play lead roles and BSL sign language is used throughout the show. It was incredible to see the signing alongside the acting and my children have been talking about it a lot since, it’s a powerful way to raise awareness and encourage more people to learn BSL.
Hull Truck’s main Christmas show is aimed at age 5+ but I do think they are always more suitable for upper Primary and Secondary ages. If you have older children it is a great alternative to a traditional panto as it is much more grown up, a great production experience, and a good introduction to Dicken’s. A Christmas Carol did have some quite dark sections and I think my 8 year old was just old enough for it (when Jacob Marley’s ghost appeared she jumped onto me!). If you have younger children, they have a Christmas show for age 3+ which this year is Jack, Mum and the Beanstalk so I would personally say younger children would enjoy that more.
Walking into the auditorium we were greeted with a fabulous stage set, the scene is set both on the stage floor and up staircases to an elevated section. The cast were excellent, incredibly talented actors and singers, especially with delivering the performance with sign language too. They each play several parts and and all do more than justice to the characters Dicken’s created.
We were completely emersed in the show and felt at the end that we had watched something really unique and different this Christmas. The next morning my son put the film version on to watch back again all that he’d seen, which tells me it was a show and a story he really enjoyed!
We watched the 7pm show and, including an interval, it finished at 9.15pm, so not too late for the ages of my children, but there are various show times on each day.
A Christmas Carol runs at Hull Truck Theatre now until 31st December 2022, including Audio described, BSL interpreted and relaxed performances. You can find all ticket information on their website here.