Comedy Theatre, MelbourneThis adaptation from London’s Old Vic is a night of pure theatrical warmth, with a performance of incredible clarity and generosity at its centre
and director Matthew Warchus tinker with the central character’s psychology and backstory, emphasising motivations only hinted at in the novella. Scrooge is still “a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone”, mean and avaricious, but as written here and played by David Wenham, he is quite clearly a man traumatised and emotionally broken.Thorne has Scrooge cowed by a cold, alcoholic father .
This leaning into naturalism has some drawbacks, but there are compensations too. What we miss, what the production deliberately turns away from, is the whimsy and magic, the expansive imaginative playfulness of the novella. The ghosts are miles away from Dickens’ vision, more prosaic and localised, less spectral and symbolic. What we gain, though, is a Scrooge of real depth and pathos, a man who genuinely wrestles with spiritual adversity rather than the cypher waiting for his moral lesson.
Wenham is superb, even mesmerising. He has that ability to hold the audience’s attention, rapt, without effort or strain; we find ourselves leaning in to catch every word and gesture. He makes Scrooge’s splenetic carapace read more like a protective armour than a sign of inherent irascibility, and his transformation into twinkling-eyed benevolence is touching and true.
The rest of the cast don’t really have a hope of matching him, but a number of actors shine in less demanding roles. Bernard Curry is lovely as the subjugated Bob Cratchit, and Andrew Coshan is suitably buoyant and red-cheeked as Scrooge’s nephew, Fred. Morrison makes a plaintive and resilient Belle, a character who knows too well the falling off that comes when hope hardens into disappointment.
There is theatrical magic at work here, though. Rob Howell’s set and costume design is marvellous, richly evocative of London winters and coal-lit hearths. The two motifs of bells and lanterns, symbols of spiritual purity and epiphany respectively, are brilliantly employed; both Christopher Nightingale’s compositions and Hugh Vanstone’s lighting make full and impressive use of them throughout.
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