Four star review of A Christmas Carol at Leeds Playhouse

Deborah McAndrew’s lovely adaptation of the Dickens classic, which premiered at Hull Truck Theatre in 2017, was previously staged at Leeds Playhouse back in 2018 when the building was undergoing its major refurbishment and performances were taking place in the temporary pop-up theatre space. It was a hit with audiences then and will surely be this time too. It certainly deserves to be.

The setting has been relocated from Victorian London to 19th century Leeds when the wool industry was in its heyday and Ebeneezer Scrooge (Reece Dinsdale) is a wealthy mill owner whose meanness and hatred for Christmas is well known locally. The opening sequence with the millworkers going about their drudgery, worked to exhaustion by their miserly employer, as they sing In the Bleak Midwinter sets the tone for Dickens’s comment on the huge gap between the haves and have nots. It’s a reality that, sadly, is just as relevant today as it was when the story first appeared in 1843.

Dinsdale is excellent as Scrooge, perfectly capturing the character’s mix of arrogance and vulnerability as he is visited on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his former colleague Jacob Marley (Obioma Ugoala) and then by the ghosts of Christmas Past (Bea Glancy), Present (Claudia Kariuki) and Future (a clever use of large-scale puppetry), eventually leading to his redemption as he realizes the grave error of his ways. Dinsdale plays that transformation with great subtlety, empathy and emotional intelligence – it is very moving.

The performances all round from the whole ensemble are of a very high standard and the characterisations are spot on. The cast features deaf actors and, as in other productions at the Playhouse, BSL signing is seamlessly incorporated into the narrative. There are plenty of laughs along the way – especially in the raucous Christmas party at the Fezziwigs’ house, plus a couple of cute red-nosed reindeers, and a troupe of dancing Christmas baubles – as well as some nicely choreographed musical sequences.

Amy Leach is at the helm as director again and brings to the production her winning combination of playfulness and rigour. The action moves along at pace with seamless scene changes, so that there is plenty of energy and drive, but Leach knows when to slow things down to deliver some touching moments of reflection – on the passage of time, on loss and grief, on living in the present, valuing the simple things in life and cherishing our loved ones. It is an uplifting, utterly heartwarming production; a festive treat for all the family.

To January 17.