26 October – 1 January 

It has been said that our idea of Christmas is in no small part derived from Dickens. A point made in David Edgar’s adaption is that snowfall at Christmas during Victoria’s reign was minimal. The idea of families coming together, huddled around the hearth drinking hot punch and mulled wine amidst much jollity with the snow falling outside is thus more Dickensian than Victorian. The other side of that coin is of course poverty, destitution and child exploitation; social evils of which Dickens was acutely aware and which form the cultural canvas on which much of his writing and in particular, A Christmas Carol, was painted. In David Edgar’s adaption these themes are never far from view and Mr. Dickens himself (Gavin Fowler) is on hand to remind us, should we be tempted to forget and begin to mindlessly enjoy the spectacle. This is ‘Brecht does Dickens’, but as with much Brecht the storytelling is so good the message is digestible and entertaining.

Adrian Edmondson’s Scrooge is himself a victim of those same social circumstances and the same ideology which have prevented him from becoming the rounded human being he could have been, with the capacity to empathize with others and feel for himself the natural human emotions that give richness and texture to a life.  This is a version of the story of which Dickens could be proud.

Adrian Edmondson is perfect, his Scrooge is, for me least, on a par with that of the great Alastair Sim and will stick in the imagination for some time to come. This is a Scrooge with a core of ice waiting to be thawed. With an absence of the normal human emotions of love for family and sympathy for the plight of others he finds pleasure in small acts of self-denial. Consequently, his transformation is not so much that of a new Scrooge being born from the bones of the old, rather the stunted child-Scrooge that was always there being given the chance to reveal itself. Mr.Edmondson’s timing is perfect and the performance is littered with little gems such as his difficulty in saying, ‘Keep the change’, or again when Bob Cratchit (Mitesh Soni) gives a reformed Scrooge both barrels of social justice we share in his restrained glee anticipating Bob’s (delayed) amazement.

For the child actors, director, Rachel Kavanaugh and casting director, Matthew Dewsbury, have raided the cupboard marked ‘cherubs’. Tim, ‘Don’t call me tiny’ (Gracie Coates) is perfectly angelic enough to soften the stoniest of hearts and to a girl and boy the juvenile cast flesh out the good and bad of Victorian society.

With designs by Stephen Brimson Lewis and original illusions by Ben Hart, the show is full of theatrical treats, shocks and hoots that it is best not to spoil by disclosure. Music, lighting and dance all add to what is a Christmas show for all ages.

Christmas would not be the same without Dickens and this production goes a long way to showing us why; it is a seasonal treat of the highest order. This is a production of which the RSC and the whole company should be proud, it is the spirit of Christmas unboxed and laid before us, ready to infuse the festive season.

★★★★★   Graham Wyles  9 November 2022

Photo credit: Hugh Glendinning