Graeme Somerville as Scrooge with the Ghost of Christmas Future in A Christmas Carol (Shaw Festival, 2021), Photo by David Cooper.

Charles Dickens’ iconic tale of the miserly and miserable Ebenezer Scrooge’s Christmas redemption is so powerful, so entrenched in our psyches, it can support a multitude of stylistic flourishes and eccentric narrative embellishments. I never tire of it and have not seen a production I didn’t generally appreciate.

And so, as expected, I thoroughly enjoyed this Shaw Festival presentation: their re-mount of Tim Carroll’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol—a restrained yet energetic pantomime. Continue Reading