They come in threes, I suppose. Ghosts, of course, but also adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol – this slick and often ingenious Old Vic production at the Comedy, Victorian Opera’s musical version next month at the Palais, and – perhaps best of all – the Muppets Christmas Carol, performed with a live orchestra at Hamer Hall. Haunted by Christmas spirits, Ebenezer Scrooge haunts us in turn, a warning and symbol of redemption.
Dickens didn’t invent Christmas as we know it now – with its holly and puddings, turkey and stuffing, peace and love and goodwill to all etc – but his 1843 novella certainly cemented certain traditions in the minds of Victorians. They were picked up and embraced around the world, and eventually exploited by commercial interests, which complicates and sours somewhat the message the book is trying to encourage. Bah humbugging the festive season can seem these days like a sane reaction to crass materialism, rather than the moral failing of the middle classes Dickens had in mind.
