A Christmas Carol (Birmingham Repertory Theatre)

When talking of the latest spectacular Christmas offering from one of the Midlands best producing houses, it is a far cry to call its stage adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol 'traditional'; however, this is certainly works to the production's advantage.

By taking an adaptation by of Dickens text by Bryony Lavery, and Music and lyrics by Jason Carr the show's director, Nikolai Foster, has transformed the piece into a living vision of the darker side of the ghoulish tale.

The opulent design of grotesque characters and gothic, twisted proportioned set pieces by Colin Richmond can not help but evoke the masterful work of cinematic legend Tim Burton. It is in Richmond’s imaginatively stunning design that the magic of the production lies, it becomes remarkable that a tale we know so well somehow become unpredictable; always wanting to know how the next event will happen, even though we know what will happen.

The production features a number of tilts of the hat to Mr Burton, including the characteristics of its leading man, Ebenezer Scrooge. Beak nosed and long haired, Peter Polycarpou’s Scrooge is a caricature of Danny Devito’s sinister embodiment of the Penguin in Batman Returns. However, this is not to say Polycarpou doesn’t bring his own flavour to the part, in an extremely engaging and emotional portrayal.

What is also endearing about this adaptation is its reliance on the ensemble of ghosts who act as the storytellers of the piece; steering the narrative in their longing for Scrooge to be taught his lesson.

Whilst sometimes adding a great eerie atmosphere, the use of song can come at irregular intervals during the course of the production; at one point we can wait what seems to be a fair amount of time between one musical number to the next, we can then listen to up to three songs in a row. This inconsistency is also matched in the way that some of the production numbers feel that they are out of place in the overstated world that Nikolai Foster and the team of designers has created.

There is no denying that the emphasis of this production as a ‘ghost story’ does make some scenes very scary for young audiences, probably upsetting a few younger families. However, for mature children, and especially teenagers and adults, the REP’s Christmas offering is not only fresh but utterly engaging.

- Ben Wooldridge