Forget the fourth wall. Entering the auditorium, there’s already plenty going on, with Mr Snevellicci (Musical Director Daryl Wallis) at the piano, while the colourfully-dressed cast chat with the audience as they set things up on stage. The actors, we quickly discover, are the Crummles family, a motley Victorian theatre troupe, newly returned from touring the regions and ready to bring us a famous ghost story – Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Anthony Taufa, John Bell, Daryl Wallis, Valerie Bader, Emily McKnight and Jay James-Moody in A Christmas Carol, Ensemble Theatre, 2022. Photo © Jaimi Joy

Mr Crummles (John Bell), who is renowned for his King Lear, is coerced into delivering a few Shakespearean lines. We are then introduced to Mrs Crummles (Valerie Bader), The Infant Phenomenon (Emily McKnight), the rather dashing Mr Lenville (Anthony Taufa) and comic actor Mr Folair (Jay-James Moody).

Invited to join them in song, most of the audience happily comply as we’re led through a three-part number. It’s a clever way to start the evening in a merry, festive mood, before there’s a sudden blackout and the atmosphere changes as the lights come up...