KXT Theatre, Kings Cross, Sydney
December 14, 2017

In adapting Charles Dickens’ classic 1843 novella A Christmas Carol for the modern age, Melissa Lee Speyer has done a great job of introducing all kinds of modern references – from climate change to Playschool to Centrelink – and yet retained much of the original story as well as Dickens’ style of writing and the uplifting sentiment that we all love so well.

The production begins in a familiar vein with the mean-spirited Ebenezer Scrooge (Bobbie-Jean Henning) – who here believes that since Centrelink exists, he’s done his bit by paying his taxes – exploiting his clerk Bob Cratchit (Monica Sayers) and still paying him 15 shillings a week. Going home on Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and then the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

Cast members of A Christmas Carol. Photograph © Omnes Photography

Here though, the Ghost of Christmas Past is a cheery Playschool presenter in a knitted sweater (a very funny performance by Michael Yore), the Ghost of Christmas...