Who knew Bob Cratchit was such a good dancer? In hip-hop theatre company ZooNation’s new Christmas show, Charles Dickens goes to places he’s never been. Choreographer and director Dannielle “Rhimes” Lecointe has created a fresh, fun and very funky reinvention of A Christmas Carol, with a Caribbean twist, which flips the story and turns Ebeneezer into Ebony. This Scrooge is a fashion maven, “cold as a December wind in London”, strutting across the floor in sweeping cape while her employees freeze in her wake. No Christmas holiday for them, machine-like as they make her monochrome designs. Meanwhile, her sweet niece Freddie is neglected and Bob Cratchit dreams in colour amid Ebony’s strictly black and white world (but has a secret soft spot for her nonetheless).
Leah Hill’s Ebony is a glam baddie, the sharp edges of her catwalk dancing matching her personality. But of course, the ghosts come for her: ghosts of the present first, who pull off her chic platform heels and make her wear trainers instead – now that’s a nightmare! Back in the past, Scrooge returns to her Caribbean roots, and suddenly a warm glow and new rhythms flood the stage, and Ebony’s backstory of grief and loss comes to the fore.
The characters aren’t fully fleshed out. ZooNation shows always have fairly broad strokes but a lot of heart. One minute you’re wondering if you really buy the emotional journey, the next you’ve got a lump in your throat. And the story absolutely does work as a framework for fantastic dancing. The standard is just blistering across the board, the energy effervescent. Lecointe pulls from a wealth of street dance styles – buoyant locking, infectious house dance, slick and sassy vogue – every scene succinct (and clearly narrated through text and songs, with music by award-winning Michael “Mikey J” Asante).
The versatile cast can be joyfully unconstrained or as tight as a vacuum pack. And Malachi Welch as Cratchit, wow, his body makes weightless sweeps through the air, curling like the softest ice-cream scoop; it’s delicious dancing.
Lecointe has been a longtime member of ZooNation and assistant to founder Kate Prince, but she is clearly more than ready to take the reins as a director. A great Christmas outing for tweenagers and upwards.
• At Sadler’s Wells East, London, until 4 January
