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Despite a bleak reality amid the pandemic, artistic director Alex Clifton manages to direct 90 minutes of heart-warming escapism with a home-grown adaptation of the Dickensian classic that's as hearty and satisfying as a fat Christmas goose. In these precarious times, the familiar tale of love and redemption is the comfort we need.
This year, a female heavy cast filled with gender-bent roles is led by actress Natalie Grady as the infamous pro/antagonist. Played with scathing sarcasm and supported by Clifton's witty script, Scrooge sets the tone by declaring the milk of human kindness 'has turned to cheese', making it easy and delish to hate him in this production - particularly as he even orders his clerk Bob Cratchit (an instantly likable Anton Cross) to say bah humbug to any festive cold callers. Movement director Stephanie Hockley choreographs this early sequence fantastically, setting Cratchit to lay down a door mat each time to represent an invitation (or lack thereof) inside the counting house. This energetic blocking filling the stage complements Jessica Curtis's purposefully pared-back set design which is economical in its single office-cum-bed feature - a space and money saving trick Scrooge might well have designed himself.
Diverging from previous years where Storyhouse's annual festive show is set locally, this year's offering is loosely located in the capital. Musical director and actor, Jessica Dives' funky arrangement of London Calling proclaims this as we open the show to an austere stage strung with chain-like festoons and greeted by The Ghost of Marley (Matthew Ganley), equally as punk rock in his leather coat and manacles. The narrative unfolds with a live soundtrack that presses shuffle on your Spotify indie playlist - A Town Called Malice introduces Scrooge's freezing counting house and his poor, debt-ridden community, while A Message to You Rudy (Scroogy) heralds the arrival of the three prophetic phantoms.
The Ghost of Christmas Past is cast as an impish train conductor, expertly played a member of Storyhouse's youth theatre company, whose young actors also star as the three Cratchit children. The unwelcome spirit transforms Scrooge's bed into a locomotive; bands of light move across the stage to create lighting designer Prema Mehta's illusion of tracks, which when accompanied by sound designer Ben Harrison's whistling steam, conjures a journey back in time. We visit Scrooge's lonely boarding school days and happier times he spent as a young apprentice at Fezziwig's. The old boss's legendary Christmas party is where the festive atmosphere really gets going with a group dance lead by Mrs Fezziwig. Performed Widow Twankey-style with a wink here and an innuendo there, Ganley pays homage to all the pantomime dames sadly out of work this year.
The Ghost of Christmas Present (Seren Vickers) is painted in far broader strokes, sporting a random combination of Back to the Future t-shirt and straw hat topped with a bell...for some reason. She shows Scrooge the humbleness of his sole employee and his family, written here as a far more relatable unit in a familiar domestic scene - quarrelling children, mealtime chaos, and perhaps the most realistic element, Tiny Tim's hatred for such a patronising nickname! During their Christmas lunch, spotlights spaced at intervals are used to separate the family members as they eat - and cleverly keep the rotating children's cast physically distanced from the adult performers. It's an innovative idea, as is the continuous passing of Baby Michael (represented by each character cradling and unfurling their own tea towel) but the effect is a little lost with under-rehearsed timings.
The Ghost of Christmas Future is usually seen as the spirit of Tiny Tim, but like last year's BBC adaptation, Clifton chooses Scrooge's sister Fan (Dives) as the silent, veiled figure that ultimately causes the anti-hero's desire for atonement. Rather than sweetheart Belle (Yana Penrose), glossed over in this production, or Tiny Tim, the clerk's son, Scrooge is persuaded to repent and redeem himself through family, which makes much more sense to me. And to family is the final place he goes to make amends - with his long-optimistic nephew, Fred, played with charm by Norah Lopez Holden. The redemption scenes are a little drawn out, although admittedly Scrooge has wronged a good many people in his life: Bob Cratchit, newly penned character Rosie the rose-seller (Penrose) and the ladies collecting for charity (Dives and Vickers). Such charity is namely for the 'food banks' and 'children on free school meals'; Clifton's unapologetic writing references our own seemingly Dickensian times.
So with the new year looking less than rosy, it's no wonder the desire to revisit a romanticised Victorian past is shared by many theatres - those mercifully left open. Also staging Dickens' audience favourite are Liverpool's Playhouse and London's Dominion and Bridge theatres, but Storyhouse's adaptation proves the venue's place as a leading producing house capable of giving the long-established big dogs a run for their money. Clifton's 2020 production has a foot in the past, a finger on today's pulse, and an eye on our uncertain future - it offers a glimmer of hope with a staging sprinkled with humour, joy, and a celebration of family and community spirit.
A Christmas Carol's run was cut short due to changing Tier restrictions. Online live-streamed performances are available to watch until Sunday 2nd January 2021. Book you tickets here - https://www.storyhouse.com/event/a-christmas-carol-live
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