A Christmas Carol @ Citizens Theatre

It wouldn’t be Christmas without A Christmas Carol. Adapted for The Citizens by Neil Bartlett, Dominic Hill directs, creating a unique production that blends together modern and traditional elements.

A small band sing carols and encourage the audience to sing along to get everyone into the festive spirit. However, the starlit city landscape set, while pretty, seems made to be viewed from a specific angle leaving those on the outskirts with a slightly jarring, layered scene.

The performances vary from competent to exaggerated. Cliff Burnett's Ebenezer Scrooge is quite monotonous, there's little shift between his enjoyment of being miserable, his fear of the spirits, and his joy of being alive. Sadly, this dampens the vivaciousness that is felt just below the surface of the performance.

The saving grace of the piece is the object manipulation. Marley's ghost is particularly remarkable, captivating attention and creating an unnerving air. Rachael Canning must receive high praise for designing and creating the puppets by hand. They add much needed atmosphere, preventing the performance from being just another run of the mill adaptation given a modern twist.

There are a few questionable directional decisions that seem to jar with the theme of the Christmas Carol that is universally known and loved – the use of sound is occasionally too heavy and overbearing while at other times creates a bareness that does not always fit the scene. The element of panto that raises its festive head places a comedy in Scrooge that does not sit comfortably through cheap gags and the outdated joke of men in dresses.

Neil Bartlett’s A Christmas Carol is enjoyable, but a disappointment to fans of Dickens' tale that has survived centuries. [Christine Lawler]