★★★★

“one of the cleverest and most entertaining of the current festive productions”

Sherlock Holmes was just thirty-seven years old when he was reported to have died in the Reichenbach Falls in 1891; having fallen to his death in a struggle with the criminal mastermind Moriarty. The sleuth reappeared three years later, however, to resume his detective business, but becomes filled with self-doubt and slips into semi-retirement. Meanwhile, not too many yards away from 221b Baker Street, Ebenezer Scrooge is enjoying his twilight years. Nearly fifty years on from his spirit induced epiphany one Christmas Eve, he remains a respected and admired member of society, frequently visited by his close friend and beneficiary, Dr Timothy Cratchit.

It is no surprise then, that these individuals’ paths should cross as the nineteenth century is drawing to its close. There is no historical evidence to the contrary, so the events that occur in Mark Shanahan’s ingeniously clever and witty play, “A Sherlock Carol”, are entirely plausible. If a little bonkers. After all, when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Okay, the sceptical among you will be clamouring to remind me that these are fictional people, but I say ‘Humbug’ to that – let’s suspend our disbelief.

It seems that ‘A Christmas Carol’ is everywhere, so this is a perfect antidote to relieve the bloated overindulgence of Dickens at this time of year. A glorious mash up, it is recognisable as both ‘A Christmas Carol’, and as ‘Sherlock Holmes’, but the crossover is so tightly packed that characters and characteristics are well and truly mixed up. The styles as untangleable as last year’s decorations brought down from the loft.

“The cast can barely keep the smile from their faces, yet each and every one is a master at characterisation”

Holmes (Ben Caplan) is a haunted, cantankerous scrooge, insulting carol singers and bleating misanthropically at all the merry makers on Christmas Eve. He rudely shuns Watson’s (Richard James) invitation to join him for Christmas lunch. Enjoying (or rather not particularly enjoying) a melancholy drink in a melancholy tavern his solitude is interrupted by Doctor Timothy Cratchit (Devesh Kishore) who implores him, unsuccessfully, to investigate the mysterious death of Scrooge (Kammy Darweish). Holmes famously doesn’t believe in ghosts, but is nevertheless visited by a spectral Scrooge in the form of the ghost of Christmas past, present and future rolled into one. Reinvigorated he then decides to take on Cratchit’s case. A case that involves a precious blue diamond, a misplaced goose, poisoned candles, a recalcitrant maid, a bumbling Inspector Lestrade, a young Fezziwig and quite a few elementaries. Don’t ask me! Go and figure it out for yourself. You certainly won’t regret it.

The cast can barely keep the smile from their faces, yet each and every one is a master at characterisation, many of them grappling with multiple personas. Virtuosity and comedy are as intertwined as the plotlines. There is a Victorian music hall quality to it all, with the story telling and the performances taking centre stage with no reliance on modern trickery or high budget effects. Yet at the same time there is a timeless and modern quality to the presentation that appeals to all. Fans of Arthur Conan Doyle and of Charles Dickens will love it. So will newcomers. And non-fans. That covers all, I think.

At one point Watson laments the fact that Sherlock is ‘not the man I thought he was’. He hits the nail on the head. Except that this is nothing to lament, but to celebrate instead. “A Sherlock Carol” is certainly not the Sherlock you’d think it to be. Nor the Christmas Carol. But it is one of the cleverest and most entertaining of the current festive productions. You don’t need a detective’s skills to discover that. Just the ability to find Baker Street on Google Maps. And enjoy it. ‘Come, the game is afoot!’.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: A GHOST STORY at Alexandra Palace Theatre

★★★★

“The icing on the (Christmas) cake is Paul Wills’ set”

You might think that an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” by Mark Gatiss, whose credits include ‘The League of Gentlemen’, ‘Little Britain’, ‘Inside No. 9’, ‘Sherlock’ and ‘Doctor Who’, would have an off-the-wall, surreal quality to it. To an extent you would be right, but overall Gatiss remains remarkably faithful to the original. Of course, there are surprises, twists and quirky humour, but also a profound respect for Dickens’ storytelling, and a forceful reminder that Dickens himself subtitled his novella ‘Being a Ghost Story of Christmas’.

Fittingly it opened just in time for Halloween at the Nottingham Playhouse, before sleighing into town for the run up to Christmas. Alexandra Palace, with its flaking façade and decaying Victorian grandeur, is the perfect setting. A touch too cavernous perhaps, which weakens the intimacy, but director Adam Penford’s production is aiming high for the cinematic scope of the supernatural. And in that he certainly delivers. Ella Wahlström’s surround sound could have come straight from the Dolby Laboratories, while Philip Gladwell’s lighting creates a vast spectrum of moods. The icing on the (Christmas) cake is Paul Wills’ set: an alternative, ramshackle, Victorian nightmare crowded with towering filing cabinets and desks, slickly rotating to reveal the cobbled streets, the graveyards, or the coal-fired warmth of family parlous.

The tale opens with a kind of prologue. Whereas Dickens’ famous opening lines describes Marley as being ‘dead as a doornail’, here we meet Marley very much alive. Albeit very briefly, before snuffing it, and then we flash forward seven years into more familiar territory. Keith Allen’s Scrooge is a bit of a bruiser, with a gentleman’s whiskers, unkempt enough to betray his miserly attitudes to all and sundry – including himself. Allen has an eye for detail, and we see in his facial expressions a boyish vulnerability beneath the thuggishness. His redemption is triggered more by fear than a deep-rooted desire to do right. Indeed, Marley’s ghost is a powerful figure in Peter Forbe’s hands; a booming personality that needs the thick mass of chains to restrain him. The three spirits of past present and future are not so spine-chilling, yet all bewitching in their own distinctive way. Particularly Joe Shire as the Ghost of Christmas Present – a throned, genie-like wizard with enough charisma to shake the loose change from the hardiest skinflint’s pockets.

“Whisps of ghosts fly above our heads as spectral carriages soar past the bell tower”

The human factor is a touch lacking, however, and our hearts are not always tugged sufficiently. It is the atmosphere that drives the piece rather than true emotion. Some chinks let sentiment flicker through, such as Tiny Tim’s deathbed scene. When Scrooge asks if these visions are the ‘shadows of things that will be, or the shadows of things that may be’, we do feel a quiver of feeling, but otherwise the true spirit is largely hidden behind the spectacle.

And a spectacle it is. Whisps of ghosts fly above our heads as spectral carriages soar past the bell tower. John Bulleid’s illusions, with Nina Dunn’s video design and Georgina Lamb’s choreography create a magical world that fills the vast, sepulchral space. For much of the time, though, we feel closer to Halloween than to Christmas, until the closing moments when the cast assemble into a Christmas Card tableau. A rousing ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ with gorgeous harmonies precedes a return to the narrator. Throughout, Geoffrey Beevers weaves a narrative thread that allows much of Dickens’ poetic language and humour to shine; into which Gatiss has thrown in a nice twist for good measure.

In the 1843 publication, Charles Dickens wrote in his preface that he has “endeavoured in this Ghostly little book to raise the Ghost of an idea”. Nearly two centuries later this ghost of an idea has grown into a seasonal favourite. Gatiss has added a few ghosts of his own that can only reinforce the longevity of such a classic. A haunting tale indeed, but still traditional enough to immerse us in the Christmas spirit.

Tag Archives: Jonathan Evans

A Sherlock Carol

★★★★

Marylebone Theatre

A SHERLOCK CAROL at the Marylebone Theatre

★★★★

“one of the cleverest and most entertaining of the current festive productions”

“The cast can barely keep the smile from their faces, yet each and every one is a master at characterisation”

A SHERLOCK CAROL at the Marylebone Theatre

Reviewed on 30th November 2023

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Alex Brenner

Previously reviewed at this venue:

The Dry House | ★★½ | April 2023

A Sherlock Carol

A Sherlock Carol

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story

★★★★

Alexandra Palace Theatre

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: A GHOST STORY at Alexandra Palace Theatre

★★★★

“The icing on the (Christmas) cake is Paul Wills’ set”

“Whisps of ghosts fly above our heads as spectral carriages soar past the bell tower”