Dickensian delights: Northern Ballet’s A Christmas Carol

Theatre Royal, Nottingham
November 26, 2024

Quite why Northern Ballet’s Christopher Gable-produced, Massimo Moricone-choreographed, A Christmas Carol has been missing from the repertory for many years is unclear, although the arrival of David Nixon’s The Nutcracker in 2007 undoubtedly pushed it down the seasonal pecking order. But ring out those Christmas bells because it’s back. And it’s looking as good as ever.

A Christmas Carol is also really uplifting, hopeful, optimistic story in a way Nutcracker, for all its own delights, never will be. It also feels rather more Christmassy. That’s partly down to the story itself, but also to Carl Davis’ very festive score, infused throughout with familiar seasonal tunes.

Sadly, the ballet is being performed to recorded music, the live orchestra a victim of financial pressures. But it’s far from uncommon for ballet companies to use recordings, and the 2014 New Zealand Ballet recording being used sounds very rich and works well.

Set against the backdrop of a gloomy, foggy nineteenth-century London, Gable and Morricone do not venture far from Dickens’ tale of the miserly, cold, joyless Ebeneezer Scrooge. He’s the antithesis of the Christmas spirit. That is, until he is visited by three ghosts on the same wintery night.

Although it’s not laboured, the ballet also invites comment on the society of the time as we are shown the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’

Ballet-lovers might be taken aback a little by Act One, which has a decidedly musical theatre air to it. It’s not only that the dancers sing carols, starting with a rendition of ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,’ but the whole structure of the act; the way the ensemble burst into dance between the setting up of the story. The ensemble singing sounded fine too, although one later number for a small group was somewhat less so.

As the central figure, Filippo Di Vilio gave a detailed portrait of the miser. But Scrooge doesn’t get to dance that much, even allowing for the fact he’s an old man. Indeed, when the ghosts come visiting, while he occasionally wanders through the scenes shown, sort of ‘there but not there,’ he more often sits and watches the unfolding scene. His best individual moment comes in Act Three as, flustered, he hops and turns as he hurriedly gets dressed after being shown the error of his ways.

The choreography really ramps up in Act Two, however, which whizzes past with a great deal happening. One of the issues with A Christmas Carol when it comes to ballet is its lack of major female characters. Gable and Morricone get round this most notably in two duets as the Ghost of Christmas Past takes us back in time.

Antoni Cañellas Artigues and Helen Bogatch brought plenty of laughs as Mr and Mrs Fezziwig, Scrooge’s first employers. Physical comedy depends so much on perfect timing. As the couple hammed it up wonderfully, they were absolutely spot on.

The real classically balletic highlight of the act, and indeed the whole ballet, is an extended, sensitive pas de deux for Young Scrooge and his first love Belle. As the rest of the party guests melt away, the couple’s dance is terribly bittersweet. Morricone’s choreography tells us everything we need to know about how they feel about each other, and how Scrooge was torn between his love for Belle and his obsession for money. Watching on, unable to change the past, Di Vilio as the old Scrooge already shows regrets.

Belle’s simple, flowing white dress sets her apart from everything and everyone else. One senses she’s torn too. She is in love. She does want him. But not like this. She despairs as she realises they are no longer one. She’s pretty determined too, though, as it’s she who calls the relationship off. Kevin Poeung and Saeka Shirai, the latter standing out in the ensemble before the pas de deux started, were terrific.

A special mention to for Jun Ishii. As the sprightly fiddler, his solo work may have been over relatively quickly, but his technique was wonderfully clear and sharp.

The phalanx of phantoms in torn and ripped shrouds that transport us from one ghostly apparition to the next is truly effective, even more so when you add in Alistair West’s adaptation of Paul Pyant’s original lighting. The way the light beams through the now vulnerable Scrooge’s bedroom window is another hugely effective moment.

Whereas the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present (Dominique Larose and Andrew Tomlinson) seem relatively harmless, the skeletal angel that is the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come (Harry Skoupas) is something else entirely. The vision is over all too quickly, which seems a shame.

Elsewhere, Yu Wakizuka and Alessia Petrosino were wonderfully bubbly as Scrooge’s nephew and his wife who come visiting in Act One. Tiresome hardly starts to describe them. I’ll admit, I think I might have worked on getting them to leave too.

Jospeh Taylor was a fine Bob Cratchit, a kind-hearted generous man, the total opposite of his employer. An early lyrical solo was full of flowing clean lines and in stark contrast to the miserable surroundings of Scrooge’s counting house.

Lez Brotherston’s two-level set backed by a view of St Paul’s, is a remarkable piece of design that transforms easily from Scrooge’s office and bedroom to the Cratchit’s house, to tavern and street. The period-as-can-be costumes are also Brotherston’s.

The setting may be dreary, but the story is warm, the characters vividly brought to life. Carols, Christmas tunes, fine dance, and a good story. What’s not to like?