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New Scrooge, same old cause
PAUL DONOVAN applauds the dogged determination of the Old Vic to stage Dickens’s classic Christmas moral tale in support of Waterloo food bank
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PAUL FOLEY picks out an excellent example of theatre devised to start conversations about identity, class and belonging
SYLVIA HIKINS casts an eye across the contemporary art brought to a city founded on colonialism and empire
ANGUS REID applauds the ambitious occupation of a vast abandoned paper factory by artists mindful of the departed workforce
A Christmas Carol
Old Vic, London
THE annual celebration of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic did not disappoint: it is an explosion of energy from an excellent cast, anchored by the outstanding John Simm playing Scrooge.
This is the eighth year that the Old Vic has performed A Christmas Carol, making it a real festive curtain raiser for the many who attend. The play represents Christmas writ big, celebration and joy, yet also a very moral story of one man’s redemption.
This Matthew Warchus production tells the story to perfection, the pace of the production gradually speeding up to the final second-half crescendo.
Rob Howell’s set is maybe slightly more minimalist than past offerings but it works well. Maybe the cast have to work that little bit harder?
The effects, such as the snow tumbling down and the sheet channels used to bring food in from the sidelines to create the big feast ordered by Scrooge, provide great atmospherics. The brussels sprouts and potatoes cascade down onto the stage. The large turkey is paraded around.
The musical accompaniment is once again distinctive with the use of the handbells and carols sung from the upper circle balcony of the theatre.
Some criticise the Old Vic for running A Christmas Carol each year but the ready response comes as the play finishes. The theatre’s annual appeal has now raised over £1 million over the seven years. This year, the funds raised will go to the Waterloo food bank. But, as John Simm reminded the audience, 14 million people live in poverty in the UK. One in three children.
This in one of the richest countries in the world, a home to over 200 billionaires, yet millions go to food banks. The gross inequality of this society reverberates back to the world Dickens wrote about in A Christmas Carol. As long as such injustice continues the Old Vic needs to keep telling this story.
It is the story of a man in love with money and only able truly to live when redeemed from that sorry state. When he changes, the world around him is transformed. Similarly, when the unjust, unequal structures of this country change then so too will the mass of people be able to live better lives. Until that time the play must go on, as a constant reminder of the need for change and redemption.
On a lighter note, this is another great production of a Christmas Carol — a play that really gets the Christmas season going for all of those lucky enough to see it.
Runs until January 4 2025. Box office: 0344 871 7628, www.oldvictheatre.com
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