A Tale of Two Scrooges 2025: Ebony Scrooge – Sadler’s Wells East & Christmas Carol Goes Wrong – Apollo Theatre, London

London continues to provide a fine selection of adaptations of A Christmas Carol, with a hip hop dance version and a West End comedy on the cards for this year.

Two New Scrooges for 2025

You knew this post was coming, didn’t you? You long-time readers, at least. For as much as the Salterton Arts Review is known for extensive coverage of the theatre, exhibition and general cultural scene in London and beyond, I am also famous for my love of that classic festive tale, A Christmas Carol. My love for it essentially knows no bounds. I have seen classic versions, Bob Cratchit-focused versions, Dolly Parton Smoky Mountain versions, Sherlock Holmes cross-over versions, classical music versions, drunk versions, and gastronomic versions. At this point, I could basically recite the entire thing. And we haven’t even touched upon the film and audiobook versions I sometimes partake in.

What is it I love so much about A Christmas Carol? I’ve spoken about this in previous yuletide posts. For me it’s a comforting Christmas tradition. I love Dickens’ turns of phrase. I love the redemption story arc, and the message that it’s never too late to turn things around. It really hits the Christmas spot, at least as far as I’m concerned.

And one wonderful thing about living in London is that there is a steady supply of different versions to choose from every year. Some are staples and stick around for a few years. Others come and go. But enough that since 2020 (if we overlook 2024 and its single version), I’ve been to two different versions every year. A compare and contrast, if you will.

So which versions did I pick for 2025? Very different ones, but both good choices. The first, Ebony Scrooge, makes several changes to the original. A gender swap, for a start. This version – which inspired my first trip to Sadler’s Wells East – is a dance interpretation. It sees Scrooge transformed into a fashion designer, and confronting the loneliness stemming from love and loss. The second, which I saw last night, was Christmas Carol Goes Wrong. It did go wrong, for me, actually: I left it too late to book anything other than a return ticket. But get my hands on one I did, eventually, and was able to see the Cornley Drama Society attempt to stage their own version of the play, with chaotic results.

I will now tell you more about each of them below. I hope they inspire a little Christmas cheer, and perhaps a festive theatre outing of your own. Both are on for at least a little bit longer – see specific dates below.

Ebony Scrooge – Sadler’s Wells East

Ebony Scrooge is a great example of how Dickens’ story continues to be adapted for new generations. Reworked as a hip hop remix, Dannielle ‘Rhimes’ Lecointre keeps the beating heart of A Christmas Carol intact. This time around, though, Ebony Scrooge (Leah Hill), with traditional top hat, is a formidable fashion mogul. She’s cancelled Christmas, so her underlings can help her stage the best fashion show ever (let’s suspend our disbelief that there is an audience for such shows at Christmas, I guess?). Through festive hauntings by Pre + Sent (Liberty Greig and Deavion Brown), Future (Malachi Welch) and Past (Portia Oti), we learn how tragedy has disconnected Ebony from her family and her roots. Thankfully it’s not too late, and Ebony brings some colour back into her life, both literally and figuratively.

Ebony Scrooge is visually impressive, and a great showcase for its talented hip hop performers. Jo Scotcher’s set, Charlie Morgan Jones’s lighting and Natalie Pryce’s costumes work in perfect harmony to transport us into Ebony’s world. Composer Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante does a great job telling the story through music. The programme notes that the choreography is a collaboration between Lecointre, Bradley Charles, Shakara Brown and the ZooNation Company. Even before reading the programme, with its excellent, simple overview of different hip hop dance styles, I could see how the choreography for Ebony drew more heavily on vogueing and ballroom culture, while other performers’ breaking really shines.

As my first outing to Sadler’s Wells East, this was a good pick. There are no bad sightlines in this brand new auditorium (although, sitting in the second row, the projections onto the house curtain required a bit of neck-straining to see). ZooNation encourage a relaxed environment for Ebony Scrooge, eliciting direct feedback to the performers and getting everyone involved in a little dance towards the end. This is a production that is heartfelt, energetic, and unexpected.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

Ebony Scrooge on until 4 January 2026.

Christmas Carol Goes Wrong – Apollo Theatre

My return ticket to Christmas Carol Goes Wrong was a little pre-Christmas treat for myself. And I had a great time. There’s a reason The Play that Goes Wrong has been running in the West End for more than a decade now, and writers Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields apply the same formula to this festive tale. Christmas Carol Goes Wrong exists alongside the earlier plays, revisiting familiar characters and the world of the Cornley Drama Society.

All Chris Bean (Daniel Fraser) wants to do is stage a successful version of A Christmas Carol. But from the auditions onwards everything that can go wrong, does go wrong (the clue was in the title). Annie’s (Dumile Sibanda*) Christmas cheer is no match for Chris’s grinchiness (or, let’s face it, Scrooginess) as the Drama Society bumble their way through casting, pre-show meetings, rehearsals, and finally a performance. Will Robert (Henry Lewis) wrest the part of Scrooge back from Chris? Will Dennis (Jonathan Sayer) learn his lines in time? Is Sandra (Sasha Frost) going to get her mention in the review and go on to Hollywood fame? You’ll have to see it for yourself to find the answer to these questions and more, including just how wrong a Tiny Tim puppet can go.

Christmas Carol Goes Wrong is a thoroughly fun evening. All the jokes are ultimately good natured, which I think is important in a good Christmas play. There’s an opportunity for audience interaction, and if you sit in the front row like I did you’ll need to watch out for flying coins and giant Maltesers. Don’t say you weren’t warned. This is one adaptation I would happily go to again, and which has piqued my interest about the rest of the Mischief offering.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

Christmas Carol Goes Wrong on until 26 January in London and then touring.

*I saw Sibanda in the role; she is job-sharing with Nancy Zamit.