Charles Dickens’
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
adapted by John Mortimer

He’s mean, he’s miserable and he’s back!

By popular demand, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, adapted by John Mortimer, returns to the Gate this festive season from 26th November.

Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843 after reading a Parliamentary Report on child poverty depicting the awful conditions under which the vast majority of the working class laboured. The moment the book went on sale, its first print run of 6,000 copies sold out, as did the second and third printings. Almost immediately stage adaptations started to be mounted and by February 1844, three months after publication, there were eight productions running simultaneously. He himself chose it for the first of his public readings. When he came to Dublin in 1858 to read in the Round Room of the Rotunda Hospital, the performances were so popular that hundreds tried to gain admission and queues were so deep in O'Connell Street that the writer had to fight his way from the hotel to the venue.

Once again, people of all ages will have the opportunity to witness the delights of Dickens’ timeless tale of the true spirit of Christmas at the Gate. With all the much loved characters in place – miserly Scrooge, the loving Cratchits, Tiny Tim and the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come – A Christmas Carol is a must for all the family. Barry McGovern returns as Scrooge with Stephen Brennan as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

The cast also includes Barbara Brennan, Noelle Brown, Michael James Ford, Billie Traynor Mal Whyte, Stephen Swift, Mark O’Regan, Tara Egan Langley, Camille Ross, Philip Judge, Greg Davis, Keeling Pilaro, Laoise O’Dwyer, Lisa Lyons, JJ McNamara, Paul Nolan. Tiny Tim will be played by Miles Ronayne, Jack Monaghan and Jason Quinn.

A Christmas Carol is directed by Alan Stanford with design by Bruno Schwengl, by James McConnell and music by Paul Keenan.