A Christmas Carol – Belvoir

Christmas has come early to Belvoir St with A Christmas Carol: a lively, unabashedly heartwarming take on the old Dickens classic. Even the Scroogiest Scrooge you know won’t be able to resist the magic of it. Anne-Louise Sarks and Benedict Hardie have breathed fresh life into a story that has steeped into our cultural consciousness, and made it vibrant all over again.  

Robert Menzies and Kate Box in A Christmas Carol. Photo by Brett Boardman.
Robert Menzies and Kate Box in A Christmas Carol. Photo by Brett Boardman.

Speaking as a Scrooge, sentimental mush about the power of the holiday spirit is not something I would seek out in media or popular culture; however, my (and I think many other) hearts thawed as soon as we entered the Upstairs Theatre and realised it was snowing. Seats are dusted with the stuff (it won’t damage your clothes) and it takes approximately fifteen seconds from sitting down to launch into a snow-throwing fight with your seatmates. Even before the show there’s laughter and a real, childlike joy. Sure, this is a family show – take those smart cool kids you know – but that joy is accessible to anyone. 

So you’re smiling by the time we begin and Ebenezer Scrooge (Robert Menzies) is “bah humbug-ing” all over the stage, and it just grows as he gets more and more irritated by the interruptions of a Christmas Eve at the office – carolers, a nephew, a woman seeking donations for the poor – blowing snow in and exciting his clerk Bob Cratchit (Steve Rodgers). And since we know the story, we know he’s about to get some kind of karmic reputation for his meanness, which makes it all the more fun.

But the ghosts, oh, the ghosts! Peter Carroll is spookily deranged as Marley (his comic chops definitely earn him MVP status throughout the play, in all the roles he takes on in this ensemble), but it’s Kate Box as the Ghost of Christmas Present that spellbinds us all.

She is a confection with a luminous smile – the way she interacts with the scenes she takes Scrooge to see is clever and playful – and her beautiful positivity is something so radiant that sits at the heart of this production. The sense of hope, of the happiness you can find of embracing the moment.

But this show isn’t afraid to show us its vulnerability, Tiny Tim (gorgeously brought to life by Miranda Tapsell) and a family’s grief and all. Rodgers and Ursula Yovich are heartbreaking as his parents, and there’s something so sincere about Fred’s (Eden Falk) attempts to connect with his Uncle Scrooge that we never forget Scrooge’s curmudgeonly stubbornness has left real emotional scars on the people around him, and on the man himself – it’s not all fun and games and comedy, his bitterness.

Steve Rodgers and Ursula Yovich. Photo by Brett Boardman.
Steve Rodgers and Ursula Yovich. Photo by Brett Boardman.

The sadness in this show is so tangible that Scrooge’s eventual redemption and his rediscovery of happiness serves as a wake-up call: we can all make our worlds a little bit better.

Menzies anchors the show beautifully as Scrooge; the lo-fi theatrical magic around him is met with befuddlement, annoyance, and awe, but his limber, physical comedy never lets him feel completely separate from it. He’s a part of the play even when he’s avoiding that belonging.

The costumes by Mel Page are everything you could ever want for a winter Christmas treat, gently tongue-in-cheek, and the set design by Michael Hankin, complemented with lighting and sound by Benjamin Cisterne and Stefan Gregory, helps create a fresh, sparingly but cleverly adorned palette for a the characters to tell the story, which these great actors do with aplomb.

To see a show that leaves you simply, liberatingly happy is so rare, and A Christmas Carol will make you happy. Let it kick off the holiday season for you, or build it into the family holiday calendar: this is something that is only going to remind you to be your best self, reach out to the world around you, and to show a little kindness here and there – and to return other people’s kindness with grace. What great life lessons, and what a great way to receive them: as a loving, fun, and funny adaptation of a classic.

Cassie Tongue

Cassie is a theatre critic and arts writer in Sydney, and was the deputy editor of AussieTheatre. She has written for The Guardian, Time Out Sydney, Daily Review, and BroadwayWorld Australia. She is a voter for the Sydney Theatre Awards.

Cassie Tongue

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