A jewel in the crown of cautionary Christmas storytelling, A Christmas Carol follows Victorian businessman Ebanezor Scrooge, renowned for his lack of anti-festive cheer (second only to that of the Grinch).
On Christmas Eve, he’s visited by three ghosts from his past, present and future. Each in the hopes of turning the tide on his Christmas misery.
But this isn’t A Christmas Carol as you may know it. Playwright Aisha Khan’s innovative adaptation for Sheffield's Crucible breathes fresh life into this dark Dickensian tale. The production is a charming retelling, complete with pitch perfect renditions of classic Christmas songs, giddy children high off the fumes of festive magic and, of course, the age-old question: what is the true meaning of Christmas?
But it’s in the delightfully eccentric moments that A Christmas Carol truly shines. From a flamboyant Ghost of Christmas Present who whips the audience with wrily dry wit, to figures suddenly appearing through doors, on stage after blackouts, on the stairs and any other crevice of the Crucible that an actor can stow away in! Adding to the at times frantic nature of production, it's a clever way to combat a historically sleepy-at-times source material.
