A Christmas Carol (2023)

Bah! Humbug! Scrooge-like poverty haunts modern Croydon

Ken Towl

As the country slides into the kind of social division not seen since Victorian times, Theatre Workshop Coulsdon has a new production of a Dickens classic that shows we really ought to do better. KEN TOWL went along to see for himself

This radical production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol sets out its stall early.

There is something about the programme that looks very familiar. That clock, frozen in time, just before, we suppose, the start of Christmas Day, is remarkably similar to the Croydon Clocktower that looms over our Town Hall. As the lettering suggests, “The past is forfeit, the future is in peril, the present is in the balance. All that matters is now”. At the bottom of the programme, we see why it matters: this production is “supporting the Purley Food Hub”. The deprivation, the poverty and the parsimony of those with power and resources, all these things that Dickens railed against are with us still. All that matters is now.

This opened on Saturday and is a sophisticated and dynamic production that plays confidently with the element of time throughout. The engaging double act of Joe Wilson and Daisy Worby as, respectively, Dickens and his friend John Forster, add context to the contents of the play. Dickens, we are told, is planning to write a political pamphlet on poverty. Forster suggests that he do what he does best and write a novel that will be read in ages to come. Wilson and Worby also play Young Scrooge and Young Marley, allowing them to step on and off the stage and add layers to the action.

Central to this production, inevitably, is the portrayal of Scrooge. Will the actor lean into Patrick Stewart, Michael Caine, Albert Finney or any of the other stars of screen and stage who have played the miser? Bruce Montgomery plays him relatively straight and, though no Alistair Sim, brings depth to a deeply flawed yet human anti-hero. This is no easy cartoon version. Montgomery’s Scrooge is a mean old curmudgeon, to be sure, but no monster. He doesn’t hate Christmas, he simply does not see the point of it. His understated delivery of “Do I look remotely like I need blessing?” sets a subtle tone early on. His first ghostly experience, a visit from his long-dead business partner Jacob Marley, allows him to espouse his worldview, encapsulated in his averring that he should not be expected to pay out of his hard-earned money for the feckless and the idle. It all sounds wearily familiar.

But this is a Christmas story and so it will have a happy ending, if only Scrooge can learn from the phantoms of the past, the present and the future. A repeated trope is the graveyard and Scrooge’s realisation that life is fleeting and that we should appreciate our families and friends while we can. Montgomery’s Scrooge grows as a result of his ghostly experiences to enjoy a redemption, and the audience applause at the end of the curtain call reflected that.

Mention should go, too, to a Bernard Cribbins-like Fezziwig, Paul Ford’s genial counterpoint to Montgomery’s Scrooge. All high camp and bonhomie, Ford dominated the ensemble party scene, upstaged only by the array of pies, rib of beef and cheeses that decorated the tables (and explained to why no fewer than 10 names appeared in the programme under the title “fake food stylist”).

It was heartening, also, to see so many younger actors in supporting roles and they acquitted themselves well, a sign that drama in Coulsdon has a healthy future.

Hannah Montgomery plays Mrs Cratchit as the the conscience of the play and manages to deliver overtly political dialogue that could look clumsy if delivered by a lesser actor. It is to her credit – and to the tone and setting of the play as a whole – that she is able to drive the radical message of the play home, that “the world wouldn’t stop turning if we had a little more and you had a little less”. 

What I saw wasn’t perfect; there seemed to be a few first-night nerves and glitches as the furniture occasionally got in the way of the actors. The stand-alone door frame dividing Scrooge from Bob Cratchit caused more trouble than it was worth, but it was an accomplished performance overall that gave its audience spectacle and carols and humour and plenty to think about.

As a coda, on the way home, I crossed Wellesley Road using the underpass. There were five people camping down for the night and it was cold. There are those whose response would be that they probably deserve their fate. Maybe they would benefit from a visit from Marley and the others.

Ken Towl for Inside Croydon 11 December 2023

Coulsdon show generated festive spirit with food donations

Steve Downes

This year’s Christmas show at the Coulsdon Community Centre might have been about tight-wad Scrooge, but it prompted a massive outpouring of generosity and goodwill from locals, who provided a van-load of donations for the Purley Food Hub. Theatre Workshop Coulsdon’s production of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol asked for all audience members to make a donation for the food bank, and the actors and crew were overwhelmed by the response.

“It has been, on every level, a remarkable success,” TWC’s Paul Ford told Inside Croydon after dropping off a load of tinned food, chocolates and seasonal novelty products. A Christmas Carol sold more than 1,100 tickets, making it TWC’s most successful Christmas production in at least a decade.

“The donation basket was filled to overflowing after almost every show, which was really gratifying,” Ford said. “Like Scrooge after his reawakening, it was a pleasure to see people taking the time and making the effort in helping others. The cast, crew and members of Theatre Workshop Coulsdon were very glad to be part of this project, and hope this will help support those in need this Christmas.”

Steve Downes for Inside Croydon 23 December 2023