Review: The Scouse Christmas Carol at Liverpool Royal Court ****1/2

‘Will Charlie Dicko spin so fast in his grave that a sinkhole opens up?’ the Royal Court ponders in the marketing for its entertainingly larky take on the Victorian scribe’s much-loved, much-told Christmas ghost story.

I’m not so sure. Because the ghost of Dickens past like a lark himself. Take the ‘lighthearted and frolicksome’ farce, Mr Nightingale’s Diary, which he penned with Punch editor Mark Lemon and performed on stage at the Philharmonic Hall in 1852 with his chums (including Wilkie Collins) who played characters with names like Slap and Mr Tickle.

“The audience, from beginning to end,” a reviewer wrote, “were kept in the most agreeable state of mirth, good humour and enjoyment.”

And that’s a pretty good summing up of the Court’s seasonal offering which takes Dickens’ original premise and adds an extravagant coating of ‘Scouse’ silliness – and much swearing.

Christmas shows in Liverpool in 2025

Perhaps a tad too much, although it is enjoyable to watch Paul Duckworth as Ebenezer Scrooge gleefully seizing the opportunity to tell the world and his wife to ‘eff off’ like a 19th Century Malcolm Tucker.

Still, the bad language, if not the fart jokes, eases off as the tale unfolds in sort-of recognisable fashion.

Jacob Marley has vanished, and his destitute wife Barbara (Lindzi Germain) and daft son Freddie (Adam McCoy) have a hunch erstwhile business partner Scrooge has had a hand in the disappearance.

Above: Scrooge (Paul Duckworth) and his housekeeper (Keddy Sutton). Top: The cast of The Scouse Christmas Carol. Photos by AB Photography.

With the help of Scrooge’s housekeeper (a multi-rolling Keddy Sutton, every one of them a delight) and the Scratchitt family, they decide to give the miserable miser a cheese dream to remember courtesy of the ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet to come in the hope he will see the error of his ways.

While it takes a while to get to the ghostly fright night itself, along the way the audience is treated to a few Royal Court Christmas staples – including Sutton’s cheery turn as a ducking and diving ‘Mayor Joe’, big ensemble musical riffs on ghosts and ghouls (I mean, maybe Dickens WOULD have factored in a giant Stay Puft marshmallow man smiling outside Scrooge’s window, who knows) and some punchy song-and-dance numbers, buoyed by the on-stage four-piece band.

Practically every member of the cast has a big set of pipes on them, including Helen Carter as Mrs Scratchitt, and they also harmonise beautifully – a version of Mr Sandman being one standout example.

Above: The Scratchitt children. Photo by AB Photography.

Designer Ellie Light makes good use of the theatre’s revolve to present a quartet of sets which link together – a Victorian Christmas card streetscape with hints of Chester’s Rows, Scrooge’s office and bedroom, and the Scratchitts’ ‘umble ‘ome.

Light also comes up trumps with the costumes, a confection of chocolate box Victoriana along with a trio of amusing and preposterous ‘ghost’ costumes for Germain, who appears as all three and whose off-stage cod-grumbling reaches a crescendo as she shuffles on in the ‘ghost of Christmases yet to come’ outfit.

While the momentum very occasionally dips in the first half, and despite an impressive strike rate one or two quips inevitably wither on the vine, with the irrepressible Mark Chatterton at the helm - for whom less is definitely not more - and a cast who know how to enjoy themselves as well as entertain their audience, resistance is pretty much futile.

Anyway, as Noddy Holder would shout. It's Chriiiiiistmas!

Apparently, The Scouse Christmas Carol is the biggest-selling festive show yet for the Royal Court, which is great news for the theatre in these trying financial times. God bless them, one and all!