Celebrating the 175th anniversary of the publication of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, European Arts Company return with their authentic and refreshing adaptation of this timeless tale.
Tom Paris’s design welcomes audiences into Dickens’s intimate study, a warm inviting environment full of festive cheer and hidden surprises. The set is based on Dickens’s own London rooms and takes inspiration from a rich tradition of Victorian illusion, imagination and early theatrical trickery.
Few people know that Charles Dickens originally wanted to be an actor and A Christmas Carol was the first public performance he gave of his own work. After his opening night he said The success was most wonderful and prodigious – perfectly overwhelming and astounding altogether! Dickens enacted the work over 150 times and the effect on the public was phenomenal; he had a magnetic stage presence, riveting eyes, expressive voice and wonderful powers of characterisation. Remarkably, Dickens made more money from his readings than all his novels and stories put together. This exciting production, adapted from Dickens’s own public reading scripts and eyewitness accounts of him on stage, recreates the spirit of Dickens's original performances.
John O’Connor is an engaging and charismatic performer, slipping deftly between the characters, aided by little more than some smartly used sound effects and tight direction from Peter Craze. … O’Connor’s performance is a delight. A festive treat (The Stage). ★★★★
Actor, John O’Connor lives in Rochester where Dickens grew up and set many of his stories including Great Expectations, David Copperfield and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. O’Connor says, I’m delighted to be touring again in A Christmas Carol. Dickens himself toured all over the UK and America performing the tale and it is wonderful to follow in his legendary footsteps. He described his imagination as 'a Magic Lantern’ and we use an original Victorian magic lantern in the show to help illuminate the story.
Dickens was passionately interested in the welfare of the poor and children in particular and many of his early readings were for charity. Doctor Thomas Barnardo was a contemporary of Dickens and was inspired to set up his first Ragged School partly as a result of Dickens’ writings and campaigning. This tour is in aid of the children’s charity Barnardo’s.
This Christmas, you can experience what it must have been like to be in the audience in the 1860s. Come and enjoy a seasonal treat in the spirit of Christmas past, present and future.
Performance Dates
12th November Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury
Frankwell Quay, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY3 8FT
27th – 28th November Greenwich Theatre Studio, London
Crooms Hill, London SE10 8ES
29th November Selby Town Hall, Yorkshire
York Street, Selby YO8 4AJ
30th November Stantonbury Theatre, Milton Keynes
Stantonbury, MK14 6BN
1st December Quay Theatre, Suffolk
Quay Ln, Sudbury CO10 2AN
3rd – 4th December Swindon Arts Centre
Devizes Rd, Swindon SN1 4BJ
5th December Rondo Theatre, Bath
St. Saviours Rd, Bath BA1 6RT
7th December Dugdale Centre, London
39 London Road, Enfield, London EN2 6DS
8th December Rochester Guildhall, Rochester
17 High Street, Rochester ME1 1PY
City of Rochester Society members only
10th December Mumford Theatre, Cambridge
Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT
11th – 12th December Loughborough Town Hall
Market Place, Loughborough LE11 3EB
13th December Rosehill Theatre, Cumbria
Moresby, Whitehaven CA28 6SE
14th December Helmsley Arts Centre, Yorkshire
Meeting House Court, Helmsley, York YO62 5DW
15th December Malton Dickensian Festival, Yorkshire
18th – 22nd December York Theatre Royal, The De Grey Rooms
St Leonard's Place, York YO1 7HD
