A Christmas Carol

Lloyd Hutchinson in A Christmas Carol. Image, Ros Kavanagh

****

T’is the season. The season for Charles Dickens iconic A Christmas Carol, guaranteed to be playing at a venue near you. And why wouldn’t it? It remains the most captivating Christmas tale of all time even though it’s been endlessly reimagined. Throwing yet another reimagining into the ring, the Gate Theatre presents Neil Bartlett's clunky interpretation from 2002. One that leans into Alistair Sim’s 1951 classic movie, borrowing much of its detail but none of its depth, its incident but none of its rhythm, its themes but none of its charm. Trading emotion for energy director Claire O'Reilly whisks up a Christmas confection in which the young are sure to be swept away. Caught up in touches of horror, carnival, children’s tv, and a sprinkle or two of pantomime.

Fiona Bell and Lloyd Hutchinson in A Christmas Carol. Image, Ros Kavanagh

It's still the same old story. Four ghosts visit miserly Scrooge on Christmas Eve reminding him of who he was, and who he became, so that he might learn to keep Christmas better than anyone. An invested ensemble of Fiona Bell, Wren Dennehy, Emmet Kirwin, Maeve O'Mahony, Ian O'Reilly, Michael Tient, and Síofra Ní Éilí cohering as a unit playing a cast of thousands like adults in a 70s children’s tv programme. Satellites circling Lloyd Hutchinson's bah humbug windbag of a Scrooge. As is usually the case with A Christmas Carol you know where it's all going, the question is how is it going to get there? The answer is like a piece of pop up Street Theatre. A Morality Play with songs. O’Neill, exploiting Bartlett’s use of rhyming verse which supports songs, sing song and singalongs, leans heavily into the carolling of the title, with carols and bells used as recurring musical motifs.

A Christmas Carol. Image, Ros Kavanagh

Under O'Neill's direction A Christmas Carol steers towards the current rather than the classic. Good Teeth’s whirling bed frame, like a Christmas market stall, John Gunning’s shadowed lights, and Catherine Fays’ shabby costumes conspiring to low budget staging. As if Scrooge had foot the design bill prior to his conversion. Yet low-key visuals, with Gunning’s lights and Fay’s costumes adding the occasional impressive flourish, pay off in their way. If, like gluten free Christmas pudding, they get the job done without being all that tasty, they reinforce the Punch and Judy, street theatre vibe O’Neill frames Bartlett’s script in, flattering it far beyond anything it deserves.

A Christmas Carol. Image, Ros Kavanagh

O’Neill’s street theatre ethos very mucn in evidence with scenes played in the auditorium, including the appearance of Marley’s ghost. Carl Kennedy’s sound foregrounding the supernatural with loud, shocking noises also playing with basic level theatricality which, if it works, don’t fix it. Leaving Gunning’s occasional stadium level light array, and David Van Wolvelaere’s spectacular digital imagery, like the ghost of Christmas Future, looking out of place against dated, tacky visuals such as the Ghost Train costumed Grim Reaper. A Christmas Carol stronger when it adheres to its street ethic and children’s tv ethos and keeps it simple for the kiddies.

Wren Dennehy and Lloyd Hutchinson in A Christmas Carol. Image, Ros Kavanagh

If The Gate’s 2019 A Christmas Carol was a five course feast for all the family, its 2025 offering leans into street food chic for children. Playing liveliness against a militant humbuggery, it makes its easy points easily. Still, where grown ups might see an old man with a white beard, children see Santa. O'Neill's A Christmas Carol delivering a show for children of all ages.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted by Neil Bartlett, runs at The Gate Theatre till January 18th, 2026.

For more information visit The Gate Theatre