A Christmas Carol - Review

Alexandra Palace Theatre

****

Written by Charles Dickens

Adapted by Mark Gatiss

Directed by Adam Penford

Matthew Cottle and Neil Morissey

Mark Gatiss has crafted a gorgeous adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Christmas classic. That the production is staged amidst the Victoriana of the Alexandra Palace Theatre only adds to the authenticity of the evening’s charm.

Adam Penford directs Matthew Cottle as Ebenezer Scrooge. Onstage virtually throughout, Penford delivers a cracking Scrooge, whose famed redemption is as uplifting as it is heart-touching. Grabbing the star-billing in this, the fourth outing for the Gatiss adaptation, is Neil Morrisey as Jacob Marley.

“Marley was dead” is how Dickens opened his narrative. Gatiss however cleverly weaves in a prologue that sets the scene some seven years prior. The show kicks off with Marley and Scrooge working side by side at their ledgers, curmudgeonly skinflints the pair of them, before Marley with a wonderfully comic flourish, drops his quill and drops dead. It’s a marvellous Marley from Morrisey who together with every other member of the cast (apart from Cottle), endures numerous costume changes as he delivers a number of the story’s supporting characters.

While the production is very much a tremendously company-driven production, Cottle helms the narrative exquisitely – his presence continuous throughout both acts, yet never dominating and always allowing the story’s nuances and fine detail to be played out by his fellow troupers.

Remembering that this is of course a ghost story, Gatiss retains the sharpness of Dickens’s black humour while also imbuing the production with just enough ghostly spookiness and deliciously simple special effects that will mildly scare the kids without going too far. Paul Wills’s set design is an equally ingenious treat – all swirling filing cabinets, moved around as needed, with projections to crown the show’s beautiful staging. 

This is fine company work with too many names to praise – a shout out however for the two kids rostered to perform on press night, Kaycee Davis and Dexter Pulling who were spot-on throughout.

A Christmas Carol at Alexandra Palace is fabulous festive fayre!

Runs until 4th January 2026

Photo credit: Mark Douet