STEPHANIE BROWN draws attention to the hidden labour of the female embroiderers, and how a 19th century replica made no such error
A Christmas Carol
Leeds Playhouse
“DON'T be so hard on me!” whines Ebenezer Scrooge to the tortured ghost of his erstwhile business partner Jacob Marley, a line that captures the eternal child trapped within the central character as well as the pithy humour injected into Deborah McAndrew's adaptation of A Christmas Carol at Leeds Playhouse.
It's this focus on character and uplifting family entertainment rather than overt politics — despite the parallels in the narrative with Food Bank Britain that might be explored — that the playwright and director Amy Leach bring to the perennial festive favourite.
This is very much a production that remains faithful to Charles Dickens's Victorian sensibilities while playing loose with detail.
MATTHEW HAWKINS checks out the centenary performance of Rambert Dance Company
SUSAN DARLINGTON swoons in the presence of a magnetic frontman
MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship


