A special kind of show
With warm mince pies handed out as the audience found their seats it was already beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Old Vic for the ninth outing of Jack Thorne’s version of A Christmas Carol, writes Michael Holland.
Cast members ambled about the stage in the round, greeting all and wishing us Merry Christmas as market folk threw satsumas into the audience. The atmosphere became one of giving and of being jolly. Musicians struck up a tune and bells were rung. We Wish You A Merry Christmas was sung. I wanted to stay right there in the moment and await a turkey dinner delivered to my seat to create the Heaven on Earth so many carols promise.
But the mood changed. The lights darkened and Ebenezer Scrooge appeared to spoil all the goodwill that had permeated the theatre. He sent carol singers packing, advising them to die and ease the pressure on the population; he made Bob Cratchit work late on Christmas Eve and sucked every piece of geniality out of the air.
Nephew Fred came a-knocking with an invite to Christmas Dinner but was given the same treatment as the unfortunate carol singers. And while Scrooge revelled in his miserliness the first ghost appeared.
You thought it would have been a rapid downward spiral for the money-grabbing financier but his greed seemed able to ward off the spectral warnings. He even enjoyed looking back at his life. He was able to see how, with all the debts incurred by a spendthrift father impacting on the Scrooges’ lives, he turned out the way he did, but did not see any good reason to change. He was still of a mind that money was an answer to everything and happiness should not be factored into the equation.
The first half ends with Scrooge having a meltdown while the musicians and singers deliver a mournful, yet beautiful, O Holy Night.
Eventually, when Scrooge was shown the future he had to deal with those he had been bad to still showing compassion and a love for him around his coffin. Some of those who had known Scrooge as a young man, just felt sorry that he turned out that way. These responses were incomprehensible to this once good man gone bad.
Great costumes, great characters and a great sense of benevolence overcoming all in this production that really sets you up for being benevolent at Christmas and seeking out good deeds to do.
Paul Hilton commands the stage almost throughout, looking like a man who doesn’t eat well, ravaged by his own hateful mind and seeing only bad in everyone. It makes his transition into a world of decency difficult for the audience to believe at first but he gets us all there in the end, and when Tiny Tim utters the immortal line, ‘God bless everyone’ there was a huge ‘Awww’.
But Hilton was not alone. Just like Ebenezer Scrooge, he needed the help of others, and that came with a wonderful cast, magical musicians, and the creative team backstage.
Hats doffed for Stuart Neal doing some heavy lifting as Marley. I heard it whispered in Row J that some see him as the finest actor of his generation. And a glass of mulled wine needs to be raised for Lauren Jones taking on the difficult role of Scrooge’s sister Little Fan. She is a star.
This is a special time of year and Matthew Warchus’ A Christmas Carol is a special kind of show.
Old Vic until January 10th.
Booking and full details: https://www.oldvictheatre.com/stage/a-christmas-carol-2025/
