A Christmas Carol, Sheffield Crucible Review
Photo by Johan Persson.
Written by Kirsty for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
It isn’t truly Christmas without watching A Christmas Carol, and this year Sheffield Theatres have brought the Dickens classic to the stage with the added flair of adding Sheffield Carols to the story.
Elin Schofield directs the piece with care and love for the Dickens classic and moves the story to a Yorkshire city, which allows the addition of the local Sheffield carols to fit in. Some of the carols use local dialect. and this would have been jarring had the location not been changed. Matthew Malone’s arrangement of the songs allowed the songs to shine without detracting from the story.
Rose Revitt and Kevin Jenkins’ set design was a real highlight; every element of the set was used with huge success, and it felt like the set was another member of the cast rather than being something that was passive and stagnant.
Ian Midlane led the cast perfectly as Scrooge, and you could really feel the journey that Scrooge goes on through his journey through his past, present and future. The entire cast were wonderful and worked so well together. Ryan O’Donnell as Bob Cratchit and young Ebenezer was a true scene stealer, especially in the scenes with Tiny Tim, which really pulled on the audience’s heartstrings. The Christmas ghosts were all played wonderfully, with special mention to Adam Price as the ghost of Christmas present. Price was sublime in his portrayal of the jovial ghost, but also as the affable Mr Fizziwig was another particular joy.
The young company led by Mel Lowe were effectively used throughout; however, Lowe’s Jack acting as the narrator of the story did feel a little unnecessary at times, but the performances were all strong and confident.
This production felt like a true love letter to both the original story and the long held tradition of Sheffield carols, which may not be well known outside of the villages that sing these songs every Christmas. However, it’s the set design that, for me, made it stand above the many other stagings of this Dickens classic across the country. Whilst this might not be to everyone’s taste, keeping long held traditions and songs alive shows the love for Sheffield that the creative team of Sheffield Theatres obviously have.
Playing until 10 January 2026
★ ★ ★ ★
