Reprising 2018’s well received A Christmas Carol with an almost totally new cast both director Lee Lyford and Tom Morris, who adapted the story and is Artistic Director of the Old Vic, will surely be hoping for more of the same.  The show played to very healthy audiences last year and to good reviews.  But can it strike gold twice?

Designer Tom Rogers’ slightly gothic, very mobile staging works well as the relatively small cast slickly manoeuvre beds, doorways and generally manipulate the puppet representations of the ghosts.  Scaffold balconies peer down ominously creating a brooding slightly sinister atmosphere and you almost expect ghosts to pop up at any moment. This is suggested from the outset with the audience serenaded into the theatre by musicians and singers proclaiming that ‘We are the dead’.  Death in fact hovers over the whole production, reminding us of the fragility of life in Dickensian England as well as during topical references to current social phenomena including food banks. The representation of the two wretched children Want and Ignorance grimly resonates.   

However, the production is far from being all doom and gloom.  The adaptation teeters between a faithful retelling of the tale with more modern references including some oddly incongruous props, but always with great humour and a sense of real drama at its core.  John Hopkins’ Scrooge is magnificent; an arrogant bullying skinflint dismissive of the ‘wavy language’ employed by Stephen Collins as a deaf Bob Cratchitt employing British Sign Language, in a neat piece of inclusivity.  Scrooge is rightfully everywhere and his sheer power and versatility is a definite stand out feature as Hopkins first captures the classic villain then the horror of remembrance and ultimately a joyful, skittish and almost clownish redemption.

Other parts are played by the various cast members, with Mofetoluwa Akande capturing Scrooge’s former lover Belle first with tenderness and later sorrow when she recognises that she cannot change him.  Ewan Black’s Marley is a Beetlejuice-like recreation with sticking up hair, wild eyes and a nightmarish steam punk vibe going on.  Rebecca Hayes’ versatility shines throughout the production as she captures the fragility of Little Fan. 

Children in the audience were visibly enthralled and we are reminded constantly that this is a family show.  Scrooge and others often speak across the fourth wall directly and, yes, there is audience participation of a very physical kind for children lucky enough to have their moments on stage.  Don’t look for Tiny Tim in the programme, he might be anywhere. 

The show is a triumphant example of regional theatre connecting with its audience, recognising that they want to hear local references and see themselves reflected in the story telling.  This is personified by Gwyneth Herbert who not only composed the music but appears at the beginning of the Second Act to lead everyone in song while reflecting on the sort of things that remind people of Christmas. 

A Christmas Carol is a fantastic, heart-warming tale with real soul that only the hardest hearted Scrooge could find fault with.    ★★★★☆  Bryan Mason  4^th  December 2019

Photo Geraint Lewis