A Christmas Carol – Leeds Playhouse

The festive extravaganzas at Leeds Playhouse have become a must see for Yorkshire theatre fans, and this year for A Christmas Carol they have thrown their big guns at yet another version of this hoary old favourite.

This is director Amy Leach’s fifth go at Dickens’ classic tale of a damaged man’s redemptive journey, and it’s her biggest yet. She joins forces for the 22nd time with set and costume designer Hayley Grindle as they cleverly move the action from Victorian London to the cotton mills of Leeds. That works really well as it’s a reminder this great city’s wealth was also built on ruthlessly exploiting the working class.

Unusually for a Playhouse festive show we are not in the round on the huge Quarry stage. Leach’s typically dynamic and witty direction makes the most of Grindle’s sprawling design dominated by a big clock and smoking chimneys that takes us into the hell of Victorian working life, and we are introduced to Ebeneezer Scrooge striding round the two tier set as master of all he surveys, despite being a miser in every sense of the word.

Deborah McAndrew’s economic adaptation is certainly not one for the purists as she uses Dickens’ text as more of a template that splits the iconic ghosts across the interval. Doing that means we explore early on short vignettes of Scrooge’s back story, which turned him into a man with seemingly no heart, and that helps his redemption make much more sense.

Local acting legend Reece Dinsdale makes the most of that device as he plays Scrooge with a very broad Yorkshire accent, plus plenty of humbugs, and being younger than many Scrooges makes his second chance that much more powerful. This seasoned pro captures all the terror the bitter mill owner feels as the ghosts torment him, but is never afraid to mine the humour in McAndrew’s version. The wily veteran on his ninth starring role at the Playhouse uses all that hard own experience to offer a coherent version of Scrooge’s return to humanity .

Jai Morjaria’s stark lighting adds depth to the darker themes of the first half before offering a lighter palate as Scrooge faces up to who he needs to be, and although this is not a musical John Biddle’s original songs played by the ensemble’s actor/musicians do add atmosphere.

Bea Glancy plays The Ghost of Christmas Past as an impish figure with Leach using some lovely stagecraft to transport the miser back to his tough school days, and the lost love that fuelled the suppressed rage of his later years. Claudia Kariuki as the larger than life Ghost of Christmas Present in one of Grindle’s flamboyant costumes seems to have popped in from a musical, but their soulful singing is a delight as Scrooge is forced to think hard about his deeds. Grindle’s design offers a version of the usually terrifying Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come that won’t scare older kids too much.

Leach is committed in all her shows to inclusion on and offstage, so it is a masterstroke to make the Cratchits a deaf family. Playhouse regular Stephen Collins gives Bob Chatchit real dignity as Scrooge’s long suffering clerk, as well as moonlighting playing a cute reindeer when Santa makes a fleeting appearance. You don’t have to be fluent in BSL to understand Nadia Nadarajah as Mrs Chatchit angrily denouncing the miserly Scrooge as this happy family enjoy their meagre Christmas lunch, and newcomer Lucas Kerr is charming as Tiny Tim who finally pierces Scrooge’s emotional armour.  

It’s easy to say Bah Humbug sitting through yet another version of A Christmas Carol. Thanks to an old hand making the most of one of the big roles for older actors, and a strong ensemble, this intelligent production does make you feel less like Scrooge and more like the Cratchits.

A Christmas Carol is at Leeds Playhouse until Saturday 17th January 2026. To book 0113 2137700 or www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk

Reviewer: Paul Clarke

Reviewed: 29th November 2025

North West End UK Rating: