Is it Merry Christmas or Humbug for this year’s star?
The Old Vic
The Old Vic’s uplifting production of A Christmas Carol, written by Jack Thorne and directed by Matthew Warchus, is an annual event beloved by audiences. Each year a different star name plays Scrooge This year it’s John Simm’s turn. The majority of critics praised his performance although there were some dissenters. It’s hard not to be carried along by this joyous production, but one managed to resist its charms. At the time of writing, The Guardian, The Independent and Time Out have yet to weigh in. It’s possible they think a change of star is not enough reason to review what is essentially a repeat.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
For Ben Dowell in The Times (5 ), ‘John Simm…shows brilliant range, encompassing moments of humour.’ He declared, ‘The designer Rob Howell’s stage remains a glory, bisecting and eventually uniting his audience when the ensemble teem in the stalls; when his door frames rise up to admit the fantastically earthy female ghosts we are reminded that they are the portals with which Scrooge has shut out not just the carollers but the world and the possibility of love and companionship.’
Aliya Al-Hassan for Broadway World (5★) declared: ‘This exceptional version of A Christmas Carol remains a magical festive experience.’ She praised the latest Scrooge: ‘Simm… brings a sardonic and acerbic level of humour not seen in the role before and this gives more levity to the show overall.’
The Standard‘s Nick Curtis (4★) felt John Simm ‘brings a gruff, grizzled vigour to the miser and he doesn’t mind being dislikeable’. He pointed out that ‘Underlying all the razzmatazz is Thorne’s intensely humane communion with Dickens’s moral agenda.’
Olivia Rook for LondonTheatre (4 ) praised the writer for the show’s perennial success: ‘Thorne…creates a…sense of magic and spectacle’ and this year’s star: ‘Simm’s classic Scrooge is proud, impatient, and pompous, prone to bellowing at those around him.’
Not all the critics were taken with John Simm’s version of Scrooge. Fiona Mountford in the i (3★) said, ‘the trajectory that Simm traces is far more perfunctory’ (than 2023’s Christopher Ecclestone). She did however bring attention to the contribution made by the music: ‘The great delight of this production (apart from free mince pies pre-show) is the music; composer and arranger Christopher Nightingale truly offers the gift that keeps on giving even after eight years.’
While affirming that the show ‘has the allure of an essential ritual’, Dominic Cavendish in the Telegraph (3★) complained that he ‘inclines too much too soon towards straightforwardness of temperament’. He explained that he ‘more conjures a peevish loner in a midlife crisis than an icy curmudgeon in mortal fear.’
One of the strange things about being a reviewer is that you sometimes are obliged to go to a show you never would have chosen to see. Take Aleks Sierz, reviewing for The Arts Desk (3★). He admits, ‘a crowd-pleasing evening really does depend on you wanting to be part of the crowd — and at this time of year I really don’t.’ No surprise then that he went full Humbug and declared, ‘Populism rules’. For him, ‘Everything is spelled out for the audience, every bit of charity talk is repeated so that even the slowest mind can grasp it — there is no subtext, no subtlety, no poetry.’
Critics’ Average Rating 3.9★
Value Rating 43 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price)
A Christmas Carol is at the Old Vic Theatre, London, until 4 January 2025. Buy tickets directly
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