A Christmas Carol

Bethany Tuttle (08Dec11): Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is a popular choice for this time of year, but Sell a Door Theatre Company have reinvented the age old tale for a modern audience, and with the help of an excellent score by Philip Ryder and Richard Reeday to underpin the action – the production achieves its aims with overwhelming success. Stephen Barden’s Scrooge is younger, but as a cranky as ever, reluctantly transported through the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Christmas yet to come to discover the shallow, lonely life that he has led. Barden delivers his journey with outstanding accuracy, and his scenes with Bob Cratchett played by Lee White are excellently directed to the backdrop of the eternal ticking of Marley’s watch, stolen by Scrooge in the first scene on his deathbed, and soon to lead Scrooge that way if he can’t redeem his character. Jess Mack reinvents the Ghost of Christmas Past with outstanding skill, whilst Tara Godolphin’s Ghost of Christmas Present is a master class in imagination. Strutting a