A Christmas Carol review – clever multimedia reworking of Dickens

With dance, silent cinema and collage, Jacqui and David Morris tell the classic story as a scathing attack on capitalismFrom Jacqui and David Morris, the brother-sister duo who brought us 2018’s authoritative Nureyev documentary, comes this dance-based adaptation of a classic.

Any uncultured types who fall asleep during The Nutcracker need not be put off: the Morrises have combined contemporary choreography with Dickens’ timeless tale to create an enthralling and moving experience.In a cosy Victorian family home, the children put on a paper theatre performance of Scrooge’s tale.

As grandmother (Siân Phillips) begins to narrate, their theatre comes to life, with each character performed by a dancer and voiced by an actor.

Simon Russell Beale’s Scrooge is embodied as a young man by Jakub Franasowicz, and as an old man by Michael Nunn, while Daniel Kaluuya provides a voice for Mikey Boateng’s Dalston disco-ready Ghost of Christmas Present.

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