In this smart, sharp update, dance company ZooNation flips A Christmas Carol into a contemporary hip-hop tale. Dannielle “Rhimes” Lecointe’s production is deft and tender-hearted, bubbling over with great jokes and fabulous moves.
ZooNation has a knack for retelling classics, with a back catalogue including The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and the irresistible Some Like It Hip Hop. Here, Charles Dickens’s Ebenezer Scrooge becomes present-day Ebony, a “monochrome, meticulous” fashion designer with a dash of Cruella de Vil about her. After drinks at the Bar Humbug, her staff strip off their Christmas jumpers to work in Ebony’s icy white atelier – no colour allowed.
The story zips along. Malachi Welch and Portia Oti act as narrators, linking scenes with spoken and sung narratives, before plunging back into the action to play roles in the tale. In the original story, Ebenezer’s overworked, underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit was a family man with a wife and children – “but we don’t have the budget” for that, they quip. Instead, Welch’s single Bob pines for Leah Hill’s regal Ebony. Imagining her wrapped up in rich, warm colour, he twists into gorgeous corkscrew jumps.
The costumes, by Natalie Pryce, use stark shapes and vivid colour to outline the characters, from Ebony’s fierce tailoring to the fluffy pink coat of her sweet niece Freddie. The music, by Boy Blue’s Michael “Mikey J” Asante, stirs in Christmas carols, beats, and plenty of atmosphere. Meanwhile, Jo Scotcher’s spare, flexible sets whisk us from the fashion house to Christmas parties to the Caribbean country of Dominica, where the Ghost of Christmas Past shows us Ebony’s family roots. Scotcher’s moveable frames conjure up interiors, warmly lit by Charlie Morgan Jones. Outside in the cold, Ebony watches the party she refused to attend, leaning in to get a glimpse of Freddie.
The characterisation through dance is terrific. I loved Ebony’s grand diva entrance, full of bold vogue moves. As her backing dancers group adoringly round her, she nudges one into a better position, consumed by her perfectionist need to edit. Though the idealised past gets sentimental, the relationships are thoughtfully drawn. The party guests mock Ebony, imitating how she tore up the invitation, but the joke hurts Freddie, too. As Oti’s Freddie smiles, her body crumples at the memory of rejection.
Characteristically, ZooNation’s ensembles are irresistible. Lecointe sends the 12-strong cast into chunky unison moves, before opening out to let the soloists shine. Whether as party dancers or menacing ghosts, they move with punch and precision. In a story about reconnection and community, they offer a marvellous image of shared joy.
‘Ebony Scrooge’ is on at Sadler’s Wells until 4 January; tickets here
