âChristmas Carolâ Review: Brooding Scrooge Gets Ghosted
An elaborate production streamed live from London makes a miser out of Andrew Lincoln and the rest of us rich with holiday cheer.
Andrew Lincoln makes for a particularly charismatic, if obstinate, Scrooge in the Old Vic production of “A Christmas Carol.”Credit.Manuel Harlan
Published Dec. 18, 2020Updated Dec. 23, 2020
I woke up with the sight of snow banked against my windowsill, so perfectly even and untouched that it was as if each flake had been placed by hand. Then the mug of hot oatmeal and the donning of the baggiest, fuzziest â and, thus, comfiest â lounge pants I own. What better way to prepare for a matinee performance of âA Christmas Carolâ?
Verdict: God bless them, every one!
Can it be a coincidence that so many theatres are doing A Christmas Carol this year? I think not.
I reckon it s the spirit of Christmases Past, rising up to banish our 2020 blues.
How apt, then, that the biggest Carol, live-streamed from London s Old Vic, features Andrew Lincoln Deputy Sheriff Rick Grimes from zombie apocalypse series The Walking Dead.
Rating:
Lincoln, who makes a very macho Ebenezer, must have been tempted to turn a pump-action shotgun on the ghosts who keep interrupting his sleep.
Happily, he submits to Dickens s seasonal message of peace and goodwill with a performance that would make a decent audition for King Lear.
Of all the
Christmas Carols I have seen this season – this was my fifth – Jack Thorne s adaptation takes the story furthest away from Charles Dickens, providing both different motivation and more generic emotion. In Thorne s hands the story shifts from being one about the awakening of compassion and empathy, into one about the healing power of love: Scrooge s willingness to accept that others may love him unlocks his ability to love the world.
It s a very 21st century take on the classic, and one which has provided the Old Vic with a hugely popular Christmas show that is returning to the stage for the fourth year, but this time as part of the theatre s In Camera season where the show is performed live but streamed digitally to an audience around the world. The decision not even to attempt a live audience has proved a very canny one; unlike all those organisations plunged into chaos by the sudden imposition of Tier 3 measures, the Old Vic s plans for a run of digital screenings
Where to Watch A Christmas Carol Starring Andrew Lincoln as Scrooge
The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln is Ebenezer Scrooge in
A Christmas Carol, performed and streamed live from The Old Vic Theatre now through December 24. Part of the
Old Vic: In Camera series, Charles Dickens timeless classic comes to life as a full-scale production with live musicians, theatrical lighting, and a cast of 18 performers led by Lincoln. Director Matthew Warchus production of
Jack Thorne s A Christmas Carol is a two-hour performance with a 10-minute interval and is now available to stream daily at 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
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Awesome Con Short Film Fest At Home
While the full celebration of geekdom that is D.C.’s annual comic-con may have been canceled for 2020, one popular aspect of the three-day extravaganza has moved online where it is currently underway. Fans have all this weekend to watch more than 50 short films selected for this year’s festival, along with select interviews and bonus material. The schedule includes a two-hour program of Comedy & Drama shorts on Friday, Dec. 11, at 8 p.m., a two-hour “Docs & Awesome Films” collection on Saturday, Dec. 12, at 8 p.m., and a six-hour Marathon screening of all shorts starting at noon on Saturday, Dec. 13. The festival draws to a close that same evening with a ceremony starting at 8 p.m. honoring and screening the year’s best shorts, as determined by a Judging Committee led by Joe Ca