A Christmas Carol - The Old Vic

Have to admit I always get Owen Teale mixed up with Adam James.

I saw Rutherford and son at the National, and it WAS long although the set at the Lyttelton was amazing, I still remember it. I'll go see Christmas Carol again this year for sure. Owen Teale looks familiar but I don't think I've seen him in plays before. Probably familiar from TV or something...

I'll be seeing it for the second time in person - I saw it online in 2020 and loved it then, but when I went last year I actually cried tears of joy all the way through, it sounds silly I know, but I found it so joyous and moving! I also left the theatre with that warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach. I will always go see this as long as they keep it. It's like a Christmas tradition now.

This is coming to Australia too, with David Wenham as Scrooge.

christmascarolaustralia.com.au/

I love this version of A Christmas Carol, it's so joyous. Looking forward to seeing it again - don't even mind who plays Scrooge, I just love it regardless.

NEW £10 PWC TICKETS JUST RELEASED FOR PERFS UP TO 22 NOVEMBER. Move quickly. 21 and 22 currently showing good £10 ticket availability in stalls.

Thanks for flagging this! 

Day seats when available are at box office or on old vic website typically around £30. Occasionally it will appear on TKTS and TodayTix but judging by sales so far, I think this will be less likely this year.

More seats released, though this is selling very well for pre-Christmas shows.

Totally agree jamb0r.  That was one hell of a first preview last night - I don't recall seeing such a strong first preview in all my years.  Not that it didn't have a couple of teething issues - Owen Teale losing his bell for the "Merry Christmas" scene was funny, but threw the moment a little and the snow guns started before he said the line.  It looked to me like his boxes got mixed up - I'm pretty sure that the bell is always placed in one of the smaller boxes at the back, perhaps it is different this year.  Plus the beginning when only half the cast hit their cue for "Being a ghost story... of Christmas... woooooooo".  The music was superb as always and I love how they update the orchestrations each year ever so slightly.  Last night's audience was one of the more lively ones I've been in during recent years - there's a slight risk of some people anticipating the jokes and laughing before they are delivered, which isn't ideal, though it is clearly a beloved piece of work by the Old Vic.  This show is now very much a staple of Christmas (or has been - who knows whether it will return next year; some on this board think it won't, though they were wrong about it "not" returning this year)!

I thought Owen Teale was superb as Scrooge - a thunderous, bellowing, snarling, angry Scrooge. Very physical too (as jamb0r alludes to) - it is indeed a very pronounced transition between angry and happy, and I felt Owen used the floor to great effect (was the tumble backwards over the boxes intentional or improvised)?  Tiny Tim last night was heartbreakingly brilliant.  If I am correct jamb0r, your family were sat stage right / audience left under the Atkins Box?  There were two girls there who seemed to fall in love with Tiny Tim, and their reactions to his bell ring at the end was almost as touching as what was happening on stage.

I'm a huge fan of this show, but I really must emphasise how slick it is already after one public performance.  There will be a few technical notes and directorial changes without doubt, but I think this is a very strong cast.

Perhaps it's me, but the blocking for this seemed very high up stage - scenes that used to be played further out into the auditorium felt quite swallowed up towards the back of the stage.  Anybody sitting in stage stalls would have enjoyed a fine performance last night, but if I had been at the back of the regular stalls, I might have felt detached from what was happening at times.

Well worth seeing, whether you have seen it before or have not seen it at all.  It'll probably get the usual 4 and 5 star reviews from the critics.