The story of the miser Scrooge’s redemption has become as much a part of Christmas as Santa Claus, festive decorations and mince pies. The amount of adaptations and versions almost rival any Shakespeare play with the Muppets, Blackadder and East Enders each having famously presented their take on the story alongside countless film and TV versions with the lead role going to actors as varied as Michael Caine, Patrick Stewart, George C. Scott and Albert Finney. There have been musical adaptations, animations, comedy versions and modern re-settings (notably ‘Scrooged’ in 1980’s New York with Bill Murray). Against all this, Altrincham Garrick presented a new adaptation that aimed to be as true as possible to the original 1847 story.
The look of this production was very ‘gothic’ with a grey set (resembling cold stone), black costumes and a sombre appearance of bookcases covered in drapes and papers littering the stage floor. This was in keeping with Dickens’s own views of the harshness of life in Victorian times and there was no attempt to find humour in any of the characters or their surroundings.
A key aspect of this production was the presentation of Scrooge; not an amusingly grumpy miser but an aggressive tyrant who was not above hitting people with his stick and striking fear into those who encountered him. Jonathan Black’s interpretation of Scrooge ensured that he could not attract any kind of tragic sympathy; this was a genuine villain in a world of cruelty and injustice. No attempt was made however to change the traditional countenance of the ghosts who respectively for Christmas’s past, present and future were a whimsical fairy, a jovial character modelled on Father Christmas and the Spirit of Death.
A perhaps unusual aspect of this rendition of A Christmas Carol was the transformation, once Scrooge has seen the error of his way. His glee at finding himself still alive and not too late for Christmas was in greater contrast than usual to his former self, with the character suddenly transforming from a figure of hate to one of sympathy (certainly in sharp contrast to many other adaptations!). This change was carried through into the overall show with all the characters suddenly appearing in vibrant reds, blues and greens rather than uniform sombre black. This effect was further enhanced by the sudden appearance of a choir and hand-bell ringers; everything really had gone from black & white to colour and a feeling dull morbidity transformed into celebration and good cheer.
To fully tell the story, a certain amount of stylisation was needed for the stage and Gatiss used a cast of ten who variously played all the characters (apart from Scrooge) in addition to providing a narrator and collectively becoming an ensemble for street crowds, party goers, funeral mourners, and all the other presentations of life in Dickensian times. This was handled well; sometimes it being hard to tell which ensemble members had played which characters through a combination of excellent costumes and strong acting. A back curtain with slits allowed for the rapid entry and exit of the ensemble and this was overall a very slick production. Credit must also be given to some very effective sound effects that certainly enhanced the ghostly feel of the performance.
This was an interesting return to the authentic concept of what ‘A Christmas Carol’ was meant to be; a genuinely disturbing tale of social injustice set against the backdrop of a ghost story, tempered by some scenes of good-natured humanity and festive merriment. An enthusiastic cast and some skilful direction did full just to the adaptation providing a perfect entre for the start of the festive season.
Reviewer - John Waterhouse
on - 20.11.23
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