A Christmas Carol. (PG.)
Directed by Jacqui and David Morris.
Featuring Simon Russell Beale, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Daniel Kaluuya, Carey Mulligan, Leslie Caron and Sian Phillips. In cinemas and theatrical venues* from December 4th. 96 mins.
Ebeneezer has dropped right off as a boys name. You still get Adolfs and Enochs but there hasn't been an Ebeneezar since The Shamen song, which is odd as Dickens never gets a Christmas off. The second most retold Christmas story ever (after Del Boy and Rodney dressing up as Batman and Robin) gets another outing this year, but in a version that is both radical and faithful. Imagined as a dream of a marionette show in a Victorian child's model theatre, ballet dancers perform the roles voiced by actors on sets that merge digital effects with stage artifice.
Dancing and Dickens sounds like a nightmare combination to me but this version musters up genuine enchantment. It's visually thrilling (the bold merging of theatrical and computer visuals is reminiscent of the Peter Greenaway of Prospero's Books) and gives Dickens back his claw, strips away sentimentality to emphasises its exposure of social injustice.
It's almost like experiencing it for the first time. The surprise is what a soft Tory Scrooge was; he caves in almost instantly to the ghosts' emotional blackmail. Try that on Jacob Rees Mogg or Toby Young and they'd be banging away till Easter without even a glimmer of contrition.
*As well as cinemas this is going to be screened at various theatres to give them a chance to earn a little over the lockdown Christmas. No home release is planned for the moment.
Directed by Jacqui and David Morris.
Featuring Simon Russell Beale, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Daniel Kaluuya, Carey Mulligan, Leslie Caron and Sian Phillips. In cinemas and theatrical venues* from December 4th. 96 mins.
Ebeneezer has dropped right off as a boys name. You still get Adolfs and Enochs but there hasn't been an Ebeneezar since The Shamen song, which is odd as Dickens never gets a Christmas off. The second most retold Christmas story ever (after Del Boy and Rodney dressing up as Batman and Robin) gets another outing this year, but in a version that is both radical and faithful. Imagined as a dream of a marionette show in a Victorian child's model theatre, ballet dancers perform the roles voiced by actors on sets that merge digital effects with stage artifice.
Dancing and Dickens sounds like a nightmare combination to me but this version musters up genuine enchantment. It's visually thrilling (the bold merging of theatrical and computer visuals is reminiscent of the Peter Greenaway of Prospero's Books) and gives Dickens back his claw, strips away sentimentality to emphasises its exposure of social injustice.
It's almost like experiencing it for the first time. The surprise is what a soft Tory Scrooge was; he caves in almost instantly to the ghosts' emotional blackmail. Try that on Jacob Rees Mogg or Toby Young and they'd be banging away till Easter without even a glimmer of contrition.
*As well as cinemas this is going to be screened at various theatres to give them a chance to earn a little over the lockdown Christmas. No home release is planned for the moment.
