Anna Burnside thinks ‘what this show lacks in polish it makes up for in heart.’
Carol Scrooge is a fast fashion queen, too busy running her miserable sweatshop to be bothered with frivolous festivities.
Enter her niece Freddy with a poem about the spirit of Christmas and a cheery ghost tasked with showing Carol that there’s more to life than being on the cover of Scottish Business magazine.
The ghost’s spectral boss has tasked him with persuading Carol that her ‘bah humbug’ days are over and she needs to play nice from now on. His job is as tough as overcooked turkey.
Writer Lewis Hetherington plays fast and loose with Dickens. A single spook takes on the job of showing Carol her past, present and future. Instead of a sickly son, put upon employee Bob Cratchit has a poorly tortoise.
The soundtrack is, for no apparent reason, 80s and 90s bangers, which a matinee crowd of Easterhouse primary school children greeted enthusiastically. The Human League’s ‘Together in Electric Dreams’ has never been so poignant.
Hetherington’s writing is well-judged for the audience - this is his tenth festive show for Platform. The tortoise is sweet and moving, and allows for a great visual joke at the end when Carol’s minions have to find the biggest cabbage in the kingdom.
The professional cast, led by Sarah McCardie as Carol, is joined by three drama students from Glasgow Kelvin College. They are hugely helped by the show’s strong design. The theme of stripes runs through the box-based set to Carol’s tights. Her childhood furniture has some tasty mid-century pieces while Bob Cratchit’s bin shed home, revealed when the central boxes move, makes its point well.
What this show lacks in polish it makes up for in heart.
A Christmas Carol is at the Platform in Easterhouse until December 24, 2025. For further information, go to the theatre’s website.
Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
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