A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story Explained

A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story
Setting:London
Place:Nottingham Playhouse
Orig Lang:English
Based On:A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story is a play based on the 1843 novella of the same name by Charles Dickens, adapted for the stage by Mark Gatiss.

Synopsis

On Christmas Eve, seven years after the death of his partner Jacob Marley, the solitary miser Ebenezer Scrooge receives a visit from the ghost of his former partner. Fettered in heavy chains as a consequence for a lifetime of greed, Marley tells Scrooge that it isn’t too late for Scrooge to save himself from the same fate by changing his ways. To do so, however, he must first face three more ghosts.[1]

Cast and characters

Character! colspan="2"
Nottingham and London
2021/222023/24
Ebenezer Scroogealign=center Nicholas Farrellalign=center Keith Allen
Jacob Marley/Old Joe/Ghost of Christmas Yet to Comealign=center Mark Gatissalign=center Peter Forbes
Fred/Young Scroogealign=center colspan="2" James Backway
Ghost of Christmas Pastalign=center Joni Ayton-Kentalign=center Bettrys Jones
Ghost of Christmas Present/Fezziwigalign=center colspan="2" Joe Shire
Tiny Timalign=center Zak Ford-Williamsalign=center Ryan Weston
Bellealign=center Aoife Gastonalign=center Angelina Chudi
Carolinealign=center Angelina Chudialign=center Leona Allen
Narrator/Timalign=center Christopher Godwinalign=center Geoffrey Beevers
Bob Cratchitalign=center colspan="2" Edward Harrison
Mrs Cratchitalign=center Sarah Ridgewayalign=center Rebecca Trehearn
Grace Cratchitalign=center Renae Rhodes
Esmé Tchoudi
align=center Madison Spencer-Ogiorumua
Ava-Jade Wolstenholme
Edwin Cratchitalign=center Lauren Tanner
Charlie Westlake
align=center William Barker
Charlie Westlake

Production history

Nottingham and London (2021)

The adaptation was directed by Adam Penford, designed by Paul Wills with a lighting design by Philip Gladwell, sound design by Ella Wahlström, video design by Nina Dunn, movement direction by Georgina Lamb and composition by Tingying Dong.[2]

The production was originally scheduled to open in 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] It was eventually produced at the Nottingham Playhouse from 29 October to 20 November 2021 before transferring to the Alexandra Palace in London where it ran from 26 November 2021 to 9 January 2022 with a cast of 15 playing 50 characters. The production was filmed live for a cinema release during the run in London and received a cinema release on the 27th November and 1 December 2022 [4] [5] before it was shown on BBC Four on 25 December 2022.[6]

Nottingham and London revival (2023)

The production was revived at the Nottingham Playhouse from 28 October to 18 November 2023, before transferring again to the Alexandra Palace from 24 November 2023 to 7 January 2024. It starred Keith Allen as Scrooge with Peter Forbes as Marley.[7]

Birmingham (2024)

The production will transfer to the Birmingham Repertory Theatre for their annual Christmas show from 14 November 2024 until 5 January 2025. Casting is to be announced.

Differences from the novella

Similar to the 2017 Old Vic adaptation, a scene is added in which a reformed Scrooge briefly reunites with Belle, the love of his life, who ended their engagement in their youth after he started to become greedy. The two exchange Christmas greetings before Belle parts ways with her family. Throughout the story, an elderly narrator tells the story. When speaking about Scrooge's change and how he came to embody Christmas, he starts to get emotional. The narrator is revealed to be an older Tiny Tim.

Critical reception

Giving the stage show three stars out of five, Arifa Akbar, the critic for The Guardian wrote,

Gatiss's script is surprisingly faithful, given his flair for imaginative reworks of canonical stories (from Dracula to Sherlock), and some dialogue is unchanged along with the words of the narrator (Christopher Godwin). This reminds us of the inherent theatricality in Dickens's storytelling, heightened with the use of puppets and some bewitching surprises such as a delightful cloud of ghosts that suddenly emerge and swing around the auditorium...

Some key moments feel too fleeting and don't carry enough emotion, including Tiny Tim's deathbed scene. But when the human drama slows down, it gains an emotional catch, such as a romantic pause between Belle (Aoife Gaston) and the young Scrooge, and the final scene between Scrooge and Bob Cratchit (Edward Harrison); we wish for a few more of these.

The end brings a clever twist and a great surge in festive feeling, with carol singing and general good cheer.[8]

Mark Brown of The Daily Telegraph was rather more generous, giving the production five stars out of five. He wrote,

"While the production (sub-headed 'A Ghost Story') is utterly, and fabulously, theatrical, Gatiss has, as if in reverence to Dickens's original stage prose presentations, inserted a narrator (played as an all-knowing Cockney by Christopher Godwin). This storyteller enables Gatiss – who also plays the ill-fated ghost of Scrooge's former business partner Jacob Marley – to both dramatise the dialogue of the novella, whilst giving expression to some of the finest passages of Dickens’s prose...

The story that then unfolds is told by a fine cast of no fewer than 15 actors. The improbably versatile set is transformed into the various locations of Scrooge's nocturnal and spiritual journeys with the assistance of top-class video projections and superb stage illusions... ethereal ghosts fly over the heads of the audience by means of the simplest of puppet-making techniques. On the other, some very smart video work gives a spectacular visual dimension to the arrival of Marley's chain-clanking apparition.[9]

See also

References

  1. https://www.christmascarolcinema.com/synopsis/ Cinema release of A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story
  2. Wood, Alex. Mark Gatiss' Christmas Carol to be broadcast in cinemas, What’s on Stage, 22 September 2022
  3. https://www.westendtheatre.com/92861/news/casting-announced-for-mark-gatiss-led-a-christmas-carol-a-ghost-story/ Casting Announced For Mark Gatiss Led ‘A Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story’
  4. Cremona, Patrick. Mark Gatiss's A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story is coming to cinemas, Radio Times, October 2022
  5. Web site: Millward . Tom . 6 December 2021 . Mark Gatiss reflects on his A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story adaptation . 20 April 2022 . WhatsOnStage.
  6. https://www.westendtheatre.com/144822/news/movies-and-tv/bbc-christmas-schedule-to-include-mark-gatisss-christmas-carol-stephen-sondheims-old-friends-matthew-bournes-nutcracker/ BBC Christmas Schedule To Include Mark Gatiss’ A Christmas Carol
  7. Web site: Limited . London Theatre Direct . 2023-09-05 . Keith Allen and Peter Forbes to star in A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story . 2023-10-24 . London Theatre Direct . en.
  8. Akbar, Arifa. A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story review – Mark Gatiss’s witty dash through Dickens, The Guardian, 3 November 2021
  9. Brown, Mark. A Christmas Carol, review: nothing humbug about Mark Gatiss’s fabulous take on Dickens, The Daily Telegraph, 3 November 2021