In all these years of festive frolics, and all the versions of A Christmas Carol that have been brought to the stage, missing the one-man show by acclaimed stage and screen actor Clive Francis feels like missing a tooth.
So, when it was announced as returning to a local theatre (Theatre at the Tabard in Chiswick) for a handful of performances, I was pleased to get the opportunity to review.
Francis, who is both the adaptor and performer of A Christmas Carol, has been touring the show regularly since 2000, just short of a quarter-century. He’s aged into it and with it, giving an additional frisson to the tale’s message of making the most of life.
Because of this, the character of Scrooge and many more from the story (Bob and the Cratchits, nephew Fred and his guests, the schoolmaster, Belle, the pawnbroker) are portrayed with great skill and understanding.
This adaptation draws out the fun while being genuinely chilling under the venue lights and with Phillip Sheppard’s atmospheric music, even, yes, a recorded song snippet for Tiny Tim!
It doesn’t need much in the way of props either. We can conjure up images of Bob Cratchit shivering over a candle or carrying his afflicted son on his shoulders, visualise Marley’s head on the door knocker and see the sumptuous spread set out by the Ghost of Christmas Present as well as the hollow-eyed children by his side.
This is a deeply traditional Carol that nevertheless displays unique flourishes that draw on Dickens’s flair for the grotesque. Scrooge is all but a faded, grasping skeleton before he learns from the spirits and “was as good as his word” when mending his ways.
An entertaining show carried by the enthusiasm and craft of its performer, which may shy from being a political tract but loses none of its message of goodwill and charity.
A Christmas Carol is at Theatre at the Tabard until 24 Dec – it is sold out but operates a returns queue half an hour before each performance. Details here.
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