Theatre News

The Old Vic to present A Christmas Carol live-streamed show from empty auditorium

A ‘well-known actor’ will take on the lead role

The Old Vic
The Old Vic
© Manuel Harlan

The Old Vic has revealed that it will continue its "In Camera" series of shows into spring 2021.

As part of the series, Jack Thorne's five-star adaptation of Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol will play live, as a full-scale production, for 16 performances only. 80,000 tickets will be available for the run, with all ticket-holders for the live show (which has now been postponed) guaranteed a chance to watch the live-stream.

Tickets will go on sale in November with tickets priced from £10 to £65 – only one ticket is required per group on the same screen.

Sheila Atim will pen a new monologue, Burn, performed by Weruche Opia and debuting on YouTube as part of the venue's 'One Voice' series.

Artistic director Matthew Warchus said:"It has been such a moving thing to witness how so many people have rallied around to support the Old Vic, and theatre in general, at this time of serious jeopardy, and back in May I received an
extraordinary email from a well-known actor offering to help in any way he could and expressing a long-standing wish
to play Scrooge.

"Although at the time our conversations revolved around bringing back a live audience in time for Christmas, that clearly is no longer possible, and I'm incredibly grateful to him and to everyone for willingly agreeing to change tack and join us in reconfiguring this much loved production into an In Camera event. I'm excited to tell the story in this new format, with the powerful addition of close-ups, and hope it will provide much needed sustenance for audiences (a mince pie or a satsuma if not a chocolate digestive) on this gruelling journey. We will be announcing full casting very soon."