Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Platform

A Christmas Carol is presented by Platform in association with Glasgow Kelvin College and it is written by Lewis Hetherington and directed by Rosalind Sydney.

Carol Scrooge (Sarah McCardie) runs a wildly successful clothing business and has built her empire on the backs of poorly paid staff. Her employees suggest a day off for Christmas Day, which doesn’t go down well with the tyrannical Carol. 

It’s not a complete 180 in behaviour, unlike some versions of A Christmas Carol. Carol does actually show love and fondness for her young niece Freddy (Ava Hickey). Yes, she’s misguided with her priorities in life but she does have genuine affection for the girl, which means her changed ways (spoiler) aren’t completely out of the blue.

Scott Miller is a wonderfully cheeky and charming spooky entity. He’s a dab hand at the job of terrorising rich people into seeing the error of their ways but there’s something about Carol where he just can’t seem to get through to her. Miller plays all three ghosts and there’s a brilliant running joke where Carol accuses him of being the same phantom but just in different outfits.

Carol’s top employee, Bob Cratchitt (Adam Buksh) lives in cramped surroundings with his Best Friend, Tiny Tim. There’s a pretty adorable twist on the norm for Tim, which makes it all the more gut-wrenching when we glimpse his potential fate if Carol doesn’t change her ways...

The music choices are always excellent, there’s a particularly gorgeous rendition of “Together in Electric Dreams”. There’s a hint of “Born Slippy”, a bit of “Vogue” and not a hint of the chart toppers that are being done to death in every other show in town.

The audience interaction can add so much to a show and this particular performance was a wild one. The little ones in the audience were completely captivated and joining in throughout. The ghost of Christmas yet to come is a particularly spooky one but the kids seem to be fascinated by it. There’s plenty of moments to join in and the innovative set provokes plenty of gasps. 

Hetherington has also written Beauty and the Beast, which runs at the far larger Citizen’s Theatre this festive period but he has poured in every bit as much love to this script. Platform have presented a show which the local community can be incredibly proud of. Tickets for A Christmas Carol are £10.50 with £7 concessions and £6 local links tickets if you live in surrounding postcodes, making it one of the best value tickets in Glasgow.

Get Broadway News on WhatsApp

Receive the latest updates, breaking news, and exclusive coverage from Broadway directly in WhatsApp.