A Christmas Carol will cure your silly season gripes

Christmas can be challenging with all that confected bonhomie but going on a journey with Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol will change your Grinchy mind about Christmas.

English writer Charles Dickens’ classic tale A Christmas Carol is without a doubt the greatest Christmas story ever told. Besides the one about what happened in Bethlehem, that is.

And each year now shake and stir serves us up the same production of it. Year after year. This is the third year in a row and it has now become a Christmas tradition like Queensland Ballet’s The Nutcracker and The Little Red Company’s Christmas Actually at La Boite. A Christmas Carol is on in the Lyric Theatre at QPAC until Christmas Eve.

The fact that it’s the same old same old is wonderful considering how brilliant this production is. It’s such a rich experience that it really wouldn’t matter how many times you saw it. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Dickens was the man who is credited with reviving Christmas. When his famous novella was published in 1843 the celebration of Christmas was in decline. The story of Dicken’s reviving Christmas celebrations is told in the film The Man Who Invented Christmas.

Charles Dickens, the man who is said to have reinvented Christmas

Dickens was, of course, a genius and his story of the miserly, cold hearted Scrooge having his heart changed after visitations by a series of ghosts is one of the classic moral fables of English literature.

Shake and stir have adapted it faithfully and embellished it with all sorts of audio visual effects and added live music including a hurdy gurdy. Cool.

If you’re doing a Christmas Carol though you need to have a good Scrooge and they have the best in Eugene Gilfedder. Gilfedder, one of our most respected thespians, is nothing short of utterly brilliant in the role. He brings to it all the pathos of Dickens with some wonderful comic touches that don’t detract from the serious intent.

Gilfedder’s Scrooge is a masterpiece.

The miserly Ebenezer Scrooge counts his money and declares Christmas humbug : pics by David Fell

The man who greets ideas of Christmas merriment with “bah! humbug!” is one of the classic rotters of English literature until he is visited by the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley who warns him to expect a visitation by three more spirits. These ghosts lay bare Scrooge’s past, then his present and he is also shown his future which is not looking good. But it’s explained to him that he could alter all that with a change of heart. And he does and therein lies the beauty of this tale of redemption.

Director Michael Futcher has done a masterful job with this adaptation by shake and stir’s co-artistic director Nelle Lee who stars in it as well and she is terrific as the wife of Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s underpaid clerk, played with depth and warmth by Lucas Stibbard. All the players are excellent but everyone, even Scrooge, is upstaged a bit by Bryan Probets as the various spooks. Probets is simply outstanding and brings his comedic talents to the fore at times but boy, he can also be pretty scary at times too.

Ghost who walks - Bryan Probets in shake & stir's A Christmas Carol

Designer Josh McIntosh has created an amazing set, Jason Glenwright has done the lighting, Craig Wilkinson the video content and Guy Webster is the sound designer. They all contribute to make this an incredible experience in the theatre. The only production that I have seen in which the stagecraft comes close is Harry Potter and The Cursed Child which is only playing in Melbourne but is closed down right now.

Judging by the capacity crowd in the Lyric Theatre last night the word is out about this show. It’s one of the most satisfying theatrical experiences you will ever have. And if you’re a bit of a Grinch it will help you feel less grumpy about Christmas.

qpac.com.au