The Old Vic are pleased to announce full casting for Matthew Warchus’ big-hearted, smash hit production of Charles Dickens’ immortal classic A Christmas Carol, joyously adapted for the stage by Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child).
The Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol returns on 4 December, with previews from 23 November.
Paterson Joseph is to star as Ebenezer Scrooge. He will be joined by Melissa Allan, Kwêsi Edman, Hollie Edwin, Fred Haig, Nick Hart, Andrew Langtree, Myra McFadyen, Steven Miller, Maria Omakinwa, Gloria Onitiri, James Staddon, Samuel Townsend and Rebecca Trehearn. Rayhaan Kufuor-Gray, Lara Mehmet, Lenny Rush and Eleanor Stollery share the role of Tiny Tim.
The Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol fills the auditorium to the brim with mince pies, music and merriment. A unique staging immerses the audience in this uplifting story.
The Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol will also be playing on Broadway this Christmas at The Lyceum Theatre from 7 November until 5 January 2020 starring Campbell Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge.
As a registered charity itself, The Old Vic believes that it is vital to encourage those around us to support others. In recent years, through bucket collections at A Christmas Carol, audiences have raised over £200k for local charities Field Lane and The Felix Project. This year the theatre is launching a new Charity Partner scheme, with the chance for charities to nominate themselves to be the recipient of our festive bucket collection in 2019. Organisations can visit oldvictheatre.com/charity for information on application criteria.
Suitable for ages 8+.
Paterson Joseph (Ebenezer Scrooge) has had an extensive career in theatre, television and film since he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). His stage career includes working in fringe and touring venues around the country and he has spent a number of years at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has been touring his play Sancho – Act of Remembrance since 2016. Television includes: Peep Show, Babylon, You, Me and the Apocalypse, Timeless, Noughts and Crosses (upcoming). Film includes: The Beach, In the Name of the Father.
Melissa Allan (Little Fan). Twelfth Night A Christmas Carol Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour
Kwêsi Edman (Young Ebenezer/George). Theatre includes: An Octoroon, Antony and Cleopatra (National Theatre); Dessa Rose (Trafalgar Studios). Other work includes: cellist with Southbank Sinfonia, Urban Soul Orchestra and Chineke! Orchestra; Collaborations with contemporary dancers from Punchdrunk, The Royal Ballet, Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields. He has also been Founder-Conductor of Chamber Academy Orchestra and Head of Performance, Advanced and Alpine courses at Oxford Cello School. Kwêsi won a scholarship to study with David Strange and Philip Sheppard at the Royal Academy of Music and studied conducting as joint first study in his final year.
Hollie Edwin (Jess). Theatre includes: Dick Whittington (Lyric Hammersmith); Pride & Prejudice (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre/UK tour); Vernon God Little, Time & the Conways, Macbeth, The Crucible (Italia Conti); The Class Weekday Nights, Olympic Team Welcome Ceremonies, Merchant Of Venice (National Youth Theatre). Television includes: Glass Houses, Bounty Hunter, Holby City.
Fred Haig (Fred). Theatre includes: The American Clock (The Old Vic); Follies (National Theatre); On the Town (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Ostrich Boys (Belgrade Theatre). Television includes: Summer of Rockets. Film includes: Ironbark.
Nick Hart (Nicolas). Theatre includes: Shakespeare in Love (West End); Macbeth (Wilton's Music Hall). Music for Television and Radio includes: Peaky Blinders, Holby City and The People's Post. Nick has also released two solo albums: Nick Hart Sings Eight English Folk Songs and Nick Hart Sings Nine English Folk Songs and plays for various types of English and European Folk Dancing.
Andrew Langtree (Father/Marley). Theatre includes: Groundhog Day (The Old Vic); Ghost The Musical (West End/China tour); Oppenheimer (RSC/West End); The Shoemaker’s Holiday (RSC); The Rose Tattoo (National Theatre); A Stroke of Luck (Park Theatre), Sherlock: The Best Kept Secret (Leeds Playhouse/UK tour); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Theatr Clwyd); Of Mice and Men (Octagon, Bolton); Come Blow Your Horn, London Assurance, A Conversation, Six Degrees of Separation (Royal Exchange Manchester); The Glass Menagerie (Royal Exchange Manchester/UK tour), The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui (CitizensBrighton Beach Memoirs (Oldham Coliseum). Television includes: Emmerdale, Doctors, Coronation Street, Heartbeat, The Royal, Holby City, Cutting It. Film includes: De-lovely.
Myra McFadyen (Ghost of Christmas Past). Theatre includes: A Christmas Carol (The Old Vic); MAMMA MIA! (West End); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre); Rhinoceros (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh); Hay Fever, The Choir (Citizens); Macbeth (National Theatre); I Am Thomas, Glasgow Girls (NTS); Interiors (Vanishing Point/Napoli Festival). Television includes: Dracula, Monarch of the Glen VI, Jonathan Creek, Teachers, Mr Charity, Rose and Maloney, Rebus. Film includes: Emma, Our Ladies, The Kid Who Would Be King, MAMMA MIA!: Here We Go Again, MAMMA MIA!, Made Of Honor, Rob Roy, Wedding Belles.
Steven Miller (Bob Cratchit). Richard III (The Old Vic); The Lord of the Rings (West End); Othello (Lyric Hammersmith); Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland); The James Plays (National Theatre of Scotland/UK & international Tour); Sunshine on Leith (Leeds Playhouse/UK tour); The Blood Is Strong (Finborough); Cargo (Ovalhouse); The Perfect Murder (UK tour); Fiddler on the Roof (Sheffield Crucible); Paradise Lost, Two Noble Men, Canterbury Tales, Maria Marten and the Murder in the Red Barn, The Beaux Stratagem, Flare Path (Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company). Television includes: Father Brown, Coming Up: Henry, Our Girl, Casualty, Holby City, The Bill. Film includes: Twelfth Night, A Christmas Carol.
Maria Omakinwa (Mrs Cratchit). Theatre includes: SYLVIA, A Christmas Carol (The Old Vic); Girl from the North Country, TINA – The Tina Turner Musical, The Bodyguard, Avenue Q (West End); One Love (Birmingham Rep); Show Boat (New London Theatre/Sheffield Crucible); Soul Sister (UK tour); Little Shop of Horrors (Kilworth House Theatre); Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales for Young and Old (The Bargehouse).
Theatre includes: (Young Vic); (The Old Vic); (National Theatre of Scotland/National Theatre/UK tour— Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, Scotsman Fringe First Award, Herald Angel Award, The Stage Ensemble Award).
Gloria Onitiri (Ghost of Christmas Present/Mrs Fezziwig). Theatre includes: Green Living (The Old Vic); The Bodyguard, The Lion King, Avenue Q (West End); Chiaroscuro (Bush); Napoli, Brooklyn (Park Theatre); Hadestown, Wrong Songs for Christmas (National Theatre); Brighton Rock, Clybourne Park, Egusi Soup (UK tour); 101 Dalmatians (Birmingham Rep); Caroline Or Change (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Taming Of The Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic); The Tempest (Theatre Royal Bath); Takeaway (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Amphibians (Bridewell); The Bachaae (National Theatre of Scotland). Television includes: Grace Under Pressure, Doctors, The Window, Bad Girls, Grass. Film includes: Resurrecting The Streetwalker.
James Staddon (Fezziwig). Theatre includes: King Lear (The Old Vic); Journey’s End, Cyrano de Bergerac, Miss Saigon, King (West End)Goodnight Mr Tom (West End/UK tour); Birdsong (West End, UK & Ireland tour); Cymbeline, Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest (RSC); The Crucible, Les Misérables (RSC/West End); As You Like It, Tamer Tamed (RSC/US tour); Glengarry Glen Ross (UK tour); The Three Musketeers (Denmark/tour); Macbeth, The Go Between (Leeds Playhouse/UK tour); Gone to Earth (Lyric Hammersmith); Moonshadow (Royal Albert Hall/UK tour); Food (BAC/UK tour); The Beggar’s Opera (ENO/Bridewell); Yarico (Sadler’s Wells/Barbados). Television includes: Bodyguard, Upstairs Downstairs, Emmerdale, Midsomer Murders, Coronation Street, EastEnders, Between the Lines, Doctors, Casualty, My Family, Bambino Mio. Film includes: Hamlet.
Samuel Townsend (Ferdy). Theatre includes: The Picture of Dorian Gray (UK tour); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sheffield Crucible); Harold And Maude (Charing Cross Theatre); 84 Charing Cross Road (Salisbury Playhouse/Cambridge Arts Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (MAC, Belfast); As You Like It (Southwark Playhouse); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Middle Temple Hall); Robin Hood (Stafford Gatehouse); Under Milk Wood (Frontier Theatre). Television includes: Doctors, The Royals, The Giblet Boys. Samuel trained at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating with the Ian Fleming Award for Musical Theatre.
Rebecca Trehearn (Belle). Theatre includes: Showboat (West End – Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical), Ghost, Love Story, Dirty Dancing, We Will Rock You (West End); Kiss Me Kate (Watermill, Newbury); Sweet Charity (Nottingham Playhouse); Les Misérables (Pimlico Opera); The Night Before Christmas, A Little of What You Fancy (Salisbury Playhouse); Floyd Collins (Wilton's Music Hall); City of Angels (Donmar); Dogfight, Diary of a Teenage Girl (Southwark Playhouse); Bernarda Alba (Union); Aspects of Love (Menier Chocolate Factory); Alfie (Watford Palace). Television includes: Dim Ond Y Gwir, Casualty.
Matthew Warchus. Theatre includes: Present Laughter, A Christmas Carol, ‘Art’, The Caretaker, The Master Builder, Future Conditional, Speed-the-Plow (The Old Vic); Groundhog Day, The Norman Conquests (The Old Vic/Broadway); Matilda the Musical (RSC/West End/Broadway/International tour); Ghost The Musical, La Bête, God of Carnage (West End/Broadway); Deathtrap, Endgame, Our House, Much Ado About Nothing (West End); Boeing-Boeing (West End/Broadway/UK tour); The Lord of the Rings (also co-writer, Toronto/West End); Buried Child, Volpone (National Theatre); Follies (Broadway); Life x 3 (National Theatre/The Old Vic/Broadway); True West (Donmar/Broadway); The Unexpected Man (RSC/West End/Broadway); ‘Art’ (Broadway/West End/Los Angeles); Hamlet, Henry V (RSC); Betrayal, Death of a Salesman, The Plough and the Stars, Fiddler on the Roof, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Leeds Playhouse). Opera includes: Falstaff, Così Fan Tutte (ENO); The Rake’s Progress (ROH/WNO). Film includes: Pride — BIFA Best British Independent Film and Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy, Simpatico. Matthew was an Associate Director at the Leeds Playhouse and Artistic Associate at The Old Vic before being appointed Artistic Director of the theatre in 2014.
Jack Thorne’s recent work includes: A Christmas Carol, Woyzeck (The Old Vic); Junkyard (Bristol Old Vic); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (SFP Productions/Harry Potter West End Theatrical, Evening Standard, WhatsOnStage, South Bank Show and Olivier Award 2016-7); The Solid Life Of Sugar Water (Graeae Theatre Company, Edinburgh Festival & UK Tour); Hope (Royal Court); Let The Right One In (Dundee Rep/Royal Court, NTS/Marla Rubin Ltd.); The Borough (Punchdrunk/Aldeburgh Festival); Stuart: A Life Backwards (adapt. Hightide/Sheffield Theatres - Edinburgh Festival & UK tour), Mydidae (Drywrite – Soho Theatre/Trafalgar Studios); The Physicists (adapt. Donmar Warehouse); Bunny (nabokov - UK tour/New York); Red Car Blue Car, Two Cigarettes, When You Cure Me (Bush Theatre); Greenland (National Theatre); 2nd May 1997 (Bush/nabokov); Burying Your Brother in the Pavement (NT Connections); Stacy (Tron/Arcola/Trafalgar Studios) and Fanny and Faggot (Pleasance Edinburgh/Finborough/Trafalgar Studios).Television work includes Kiri (Channel 4); National Treasure (Best Mini Series - BAFTA 2017, Royal Television Society Award 2017); The Last Panthers, Don’t Take My Baby (Best Single – BAFTA 2016); Glue, The Fades (Best Drama Series – BAFTA 2012); This Is England ’90 (Best Serial – BAFTA 2016, Royal Television Society Award 2016); This Is England ’88 (Best Mini-Series – BAFTA 2012) and This is England ‘86, Cast-Offs and episodes of Skins and Shameless. Films include Wonder, War Book, A Long Way Down and The Scouting Book for Boys, which premiered at the 2010 London Film Festival and won the Best British Newcomer Award.
#OVChristmasCarol
The Old Vic, The Cut, London SE1 8NB
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
A version by Jack Thorne Directed by Matthew Warchus Starring Paterson Joseph
Sat 23 Nov 2019–Sat 18 Jan 2020
Sat 23 – Tue 02 Dec, Mon-Sat: 7:30pm; Wed & Sat 2:30pm
Thu 05 Dec – Sat 18 Jan, Mon-Sat 7pm & Sat 1pm
Matinee performances 06,11,17,19, 23, 24, 27, 30 Dec, 2, 7, 9, 14 Jan See our website for the full performance schedule.
Mon–Sat: 7pm; Wed & Sat 1pm
Press night: 04 Dec 2019 7pm
Audio Described Performance: 06 Jan 2020 (touch tour at 6pm) Captioned Performance: 10 Jan 2020 7pm
Relaxed Performance: 11 Jan 20201pm
Suitable for ages 8+
TICKETS: £12, £20, £30/£35, £40/£45, £55/£57.50, £65/£67.50
Child rate: 50% off Bands A–D (available on Mon–Thu only between 23 Nov–3 Dec and all January performances)
