Extolling the importance of love, compassion and generosity, Charles Dickens’ novella, A Christmas Carol, has become a yuletide tradition, embraced by theatremakers. Deborah Jones explores its magic with the creative artists behind the various adaptations, including an opera, that are about to grace our stages.

Marley’s Ghost visits Ebenezer Scrooge. Etching by John Leech for the first edition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, 1843. Image: The Granger Collection/Alamy Stock Photo

“A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas"

- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843)