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Scrooge - Scottish Premiere
First production at Lyric Hammersmith London on 12 Dec 1996.
Jointly awarded the 2003 Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland For Best Production.
Full list of 2003 Awards.

Playwright - Neil Barlett adapted from Charles Dicken's Christmas Carol
Director & Designer - Kenny Miller
Assistant Director - Abbie Wallace
Lighting Designer - Stuart Jenkins
Composer - Paddy Cunneen
Choreography - Malcolm Shields
Company - Citizens' Theatre Company
Cast - here
Venue - Citizens' Theatre www.citz.co.uk for internet booking 0141 429 0022
119 Gorbals St
Dates - 28 Nov - 28 Dec 2002 Various times including Monday performances but No Sunday performances during run Full Details at end of review
Run Time - 2 hours including a 15 mins interval
Reviewer - Thelma Good

Gift of memorable visual theatrical strength.

Scrooge - Citizen Theatre Company. Giles Havergal as Scrooge. © Richard Campbell 2002

Giles Havergal's businessman Scrooge is a black parsimonious crowlike figure unscrewing lightbulbs and counting down the seconds. Loving nephew Fred and cheery chief clerk Bob Cratchit can't get him to lighten up and see beyond his piles of coins. Even on Christmas Eve he's a dark spirited person. Then in his grim house while he sleeps his 7-years dead partner Marley comes to warn him of his ways. Tam Dean Burn's Marley is awesomely memorable as he tries to make sure the his partner sees real value is not in gold.

The direction and playing of this acute adaptation make it a theatrical drama crafted to appeal and be enjoyed by a wide spread of ages. Scrooge's mean fire in his eerie dwelling flickers into life as an actor's head poking through the raised section of the stage across the back of the stage. Erupting into the room with the winds and glow of hell, Joseph Marley comes out of the purgatory he is chained to. Miller judges just right the fear and the humour. The youthful audience were eager for the second half and thunderous in their applause at the end when I saw it - coming out with eyes shining.

Scrooge - Citizen Theatre Company. I to r Giles Havergal as Scrooge, Malcolm Shields as Ghost of Christmas Present and Tam Dean Burn as Marley. © Richard Campbell 2002

Raising the spirits and trust for the production from their first choreographed appearance in the auditorium are the student actors as clerks and ding donging Bells of London. There's also the warm chaos of the Cratchit household, with Elaine Mackenzie Ellis's comic rompersuited Belinda and the Fezziwig's party and its 50's dancing, that's 1950's. Miller has set this Scrooge not in the distancing Victorian times but now. Countering these scenes are others of gothic intensity which retain a pleasing tinge of the Victorian original, the students in their many roles and the professionals in theirs' multi-ones are fused into a strong ensemble production.

Latter day meanies could find their consciences pricked. Scrooge cites the Social Services as being so generous charities are not needed but round the edges of his complacency we see fragments of the world he takes from and never has given to for a long while. The youth encountering Scrooge first calls him mockingly "Old Man", when on Christmas morn he sends him off to buy a huge turkey with a large sum of money, it's "Big Man"! The irony of this, so clear to us, passes the very changed Scrooge by. And you realise the youth will and does deliver, trust and belief can alter a weak society.

Immediately satisfying on so many levels, this is that rare thing, a seasonal show that doesn't just contain a feel good Christmas treat, but a gift of memorable visual theatrical strength.
© Thelma Good 2 December 2002. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com

The Award For The Best Theatre Production was shared between two productions. Shining Souls, directed by Alison Peebles and co-produced by her company, V.amp Productions and the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, shared the top award with Scrooge, directed and designed by Kenny Miller, the 2002 Christmas show at the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow. Full list of 2003 Awards.

Cast:

Giles Havergal - Ebenezer Scrooge.
Tam Dean Burn - Jacob Marley, Scrooge as apprentice/when engaged, first man of business, funeral spirit.
Carter Ferguson - Mr Fezziwig, Third Fat Gentleman, Old Joe, Funeral Spirit.
Sally Howlitt - Martha Cratchit, Scrooge at School, The other Miss Fezziwig, Young Woman in debt to Scrooge, Funeral Spirit.
Elaine MacKenzie Ellis - Mrs Fezziwig, Mrs Dilber, Belinda Cratchit, Funeral Spirit.
Jay Manley - Bob Cratchit, A Ghost in Limbo, Funeral Spirit.
Malcolm Shields - Ghost of Christmas present, Ghost of Christmas yet to come, Second Portly Gentleman.

also in the cast RSAMD 3rd year Acting Students
Grae Cleugh - A Ghost in Limbo, Bells of London - St Martins, A shopper, Clerk No 1, Dick Wilkins, Fred's party guest, Funeral Spirit.
Mark Gowland - Prologue Clerk, A Ghost in Limbo, Bells of London - Old Bailey, A shopper, First portly Gentleman, Fred's party guest, Fezziwig's party guest, Funeral Spirit.
James Gilbert - Prologue Clerk, A Ghost in Limbo, Bells of London - St. Dunstans, Ignorance, Tom, Second Fat Businessman, Boy with Turkey, A shopper, Fezziwig's party guest, Funeral Spirit.
Sam Heughan - A Ghost in Limbo, Bells of London - St Bartholomews, Clerk No 3, Fire, A Shop Assistant, Young man in debt to Scrooge, First Fat Businessman, Fred's party guest, Fezziwig's party guest, Funeral Spirit.
Lynne McKelvey - Miss Fezziwig - Scrooge's fianceée, Scrooge's nephew Fred's wife, Tiny Tim Cratchit, Fezziwig's party guest, Funeral Spirit.
Mark Melville - Bells of London - St Giles, A shopper, Clerk No 2, Peter Cratchit, Fezziwig's party guest, Funeral Spirit.
Tim Robinson - Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge's nephew Fred, Second Man of Business, Funeral Spirit.
Alan Tripney - Prologue Clerk, A Ghost in Limbo, A hungry singing boy, Bells of London - St Clements, Want, A shopper, Harry, Fezziwig's party guest, Funeral Spirit.
Cassie Vallance - Prologue Clerk, A Ghost in Limbo, Bells of London - St. Barnabus, Scrooge's ex-fianceée's daughter, Mrs Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's sister, Fred's party guest, Fezziwig's party guest, Funeral Spirit.

Full Details of performances.
Public Performances bookable online, phone venue re additional daytime schools performances.
30 Nov at 2pm & 7pm
4 - 7 Dec at 7pm also 2 pm on 7 Dec
11 - 13 Dec at 7pm
14 Dec at 2pm, 5pm and 8pm
16 - 20 Dec at 7pm
21 Dec at 2pm, 5pm and 8pm
23 Dec at 2pm & 7pm
24 Dec at 2pm & 5pm
26 & 27 Dec at 2pm & 7pm
28 Dec at 2pm, 5pm and 8pm
End of Run.

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