A Christmas Carol
The Old Vic, London SE1

THERE is a timeless quality to the Dickens classic that seems to ensure its relevance in every epoch.

Published in 1843 and inspired by the abject poverty suffered by the working-class and their children of the Victorian era in which he lived, A Christmas Carol once again has huge pertinence to today’s cost-of-living crisis.

That may be why this creative production by Jack Thorne, directed by Matthew Warchus, at the Old Vic, has been much-revived — currently on its sixth staging, with a new Scrooge each year, as if they were regenerating like Doctor Who.

And you can see why, it has its charms. As the audience take their seats, men in top hats throw satsumas into the stalls and dress circle while women hand out mince pies from trays.

There have been so many adaptations of the story on screen, it’s easy to forget the opportunities a stage production has of bringing it to life.

Yet the first half is more or less what you’d expect from a traditional telling of the tale. The curmudgeonly Scrooge, played with flair by Owen Teale, has his visitation by partner Jacob Marley (Sebastian Torkia), dragging an impressively long length of chain behind him, who presages the sprits of past, present and future to come.

It’s so textbook that you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d come to see an entirely different production on returning for the second half, where the energy is suddenly dialled up several notches.

A measure of a good Scrooge is their transformation from mean-spirited misanthropic to gregarious philanthropic, and Teale’s ebullient change is so infectious it’s impossible not to be filled with a sizeable dose of Christmas spirit.

Ringing a bell to welcome Christmas Day, the audience are suddenly engulfed by a seemingly never-ending barrage of snow — actually bubble bath — from the Old Vic’s ceiling, which amusingly gets in everyone’s hair and drinks.

A turkey is zip-wired across the stage, brussel sprouts parachute from the sky and sheets of cloth held from balcony to stage are used as slides to ferry down more food for the Christmas feast Scrooge intends to share with his estranged family.

There’s also a tender moment as Scrooge comes face to face with Tiny Tim, who displays a selfless wisdom that rather mirrors the lack thereof in our infamous protagonist.

It’s all great fun, but one wishes that some of the interactive energy that is nailed so well in the second half was more present in the first.

Runs at The Old Vic until January 7 2022. Box office: 0344 871-7628, www.oldvictheatre.com.