Theatre: A Scarborough Christmas Carol

The cast of A Scarborough Christmas Carol got into the seasonal spirit with a trip to South Bay.

Decked in Santa hats and tinsel and carrying lanterns, the actors showed there is nothing mean-spirited about their version of Scrooge.

Expected the unexpected with Nick Lane’s adaptation of the Dickens’ classic at the Stephen Joseph Theatre

His watchwords include silly, daft and ridiculous.

“What we’ve done is taken the classic story that you know, and given it a funky twist,” said Nick.

“You won’t have seen a Dickens’ adaptation with a time worm, he said.”

The framework of the story is – on Boxing Day Scrooge’s servants tell the audience the story of how their employee changed from being the meanest man in Scarborough to the kindest.

The flavour of Dickens is evident in their names: dogsbody Pod, cook Mrs Grubb, chambermaid Miss Winks and head of the household Mr Speckledyke.

There is also audience participation and a song to join in with.

“There is also a strong story because if it was only mucking about you might as well go to a ball pool,” said Nick.

Local flavour does not begin and end with a few street names. “I hope it has the feel of Scarborough,” said Nick.

The production reunites Nick with composer Simon Slater and director Paul Robinson, the trio behind last year’s Christmas show Pinocchio.

“This year we’ve taken the Christmas craziness a step further and come up with a version of a festive family classic set firmly in our home town,” said Paul.

The show stars Anne-Marie Piazza, Elliott Rennie, Joey Hickman and Alicia Mckenzie who between them will portray 30 different characters, and play live music on stage.

Tickets: 01723 370541