If you are a theatre critic, it is hard not to feel haunted by a certain Charles Dickens at this time of year. It is, of course, the season for productions of A Christmas Carol, but this year they are sprouting up with positively Fezziwigian levels of unbridled enthusiasm. Scrooge seems to be everywhere: Bristol, Reading, Leeds, Newcastle, Stratford-upon-Avon, Glasgow and Liverpool, among others. This month he has appeared simultaneously on three stages in the West End of London, a feat no other literary character has achieved. It’s easy to greet the news of yet another production with a grumpy “bah…

Source: The Times December 14, 2018 15:33 UTC