It is one of the most often-told tales of Christmas and redemption – but it still provides a magnificent opportunity for film-makers to create something different.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL returns in a new reimagined version that combines the live style of Matthew Bourne with the innovation of the classic Tim Burton film EDWARD SCISSORHANDS – and could well be the perfect alternative to round off 2020 given that both cinemas and theatres are losing out big time due to the pandemic and the ‘New Normal’.
Opening with a Victorian family gathering around a toy theatre about to prepare their own performance within it of the Dickens tale, it is the grandmother (Sian Phillips) who sits aside and reveals all by telling the tale once again of Ebenezer Scrooge, the ultimate curmudgeon across time and generation who is visited by his dead partner Marley who warns him of three spirits of Past, Present and Future who will reveal themselves on the hour of twelve – and take him on what they hope will be an enlightening journey into revelation and aforementioned redemption….
The chances are you have probably seen one version of many over the years, so I won’t bore you with the plot as it is well known anyway, but this version helmed by sibling award-nominees David and Jacqui Morris is a very beautiful, lyrical and poetic version which uses dancers and performers through a series of well constructed sets and effects, whilst using the voice talents of the likes of Simon Russell Beale, Andy Serkis, Martin Freeman, Carey Mulligan and Daniel Kaluuya to relay the staple characters.
It is a tribute to the effectiveness of the production that it works both as a film and a theatrical experience and would certainly sell out in the West End if it ever came to prominence in a future incarnation. It is not an easy thing to pull off, especially with a story that has been interpreted and read over and over by people over the years, but if you are new to the works of Dickens, this is the perfect in-road.
