Theatre News

The Old Vic confirms return of ”A Christmas Carol” for seventh consecutive year

The 2022 company of A Christmas Carol
The 2022 company of A Christmas Carol
© Manuel Harlan

Jack Thorne’s celebrated adaptation of A Christmas Carol will officially return to the Old Vic in 2023, marking its seventh consecutive year at the Waterloo venue.

The production will once again be helmed by artistic director Matthew Warchus (Matilda The Musical, Groundhog Day), who commented: “It makes me very happy to announce that the Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol will be back again later this year. Originally intended as a one-off Christmas production, this joyful and unique version by Jack Thorne has connected with audiences, in London and beyond, in the most phenomenal way, with each successive return proving evermore popular.

“I know I speak for the whole creative team and the Old Vic staff when I say the show is very close to our hearts – a huge amount of love, effort and skill is poured into it every year and it represents so much of what we want this theatre to be. It is a wonderful thing to see A Christmas Carol embraced as a festive tradition for families and individuals of all ages. As for the extraordinary audience generosity we see every year in the charity bucket collections at the end of every performance… over £1 million from all productions to date… I find that incredibly moving.”

The piece also features set and costumes by Rob Howell, music and arrangements by Christopher Nightingale, lighting by Hugh Vanstone, sound by Simon Baker and movement by Lizzi Gee, with Jessica Ronane CDG as casting director.

Since its 2017 debut, the production has been attended by approx 500,000 people in London, Australia, on Broadway and across America. It was even live-streamed in 2020 during the national lockdown. Over the years, the coveted role of Ebenezer Scrooge has been performed at the Old Vic by the likes of Rhys Ifans, Stephen Tompkinson, Patterson Joseph, Andrew Lincoln, Stephen Mangan and Owen Teale.

Casting for this year’s production will be announced in due course.

A Christmas Carol will run from 11 November 2023 to 6 January 2024, with a press night set for 22 November.

Sign up to our newsletter for more stories like this