Northern Stage, the largest producing theatre in the North East, has announced the cast and creative team for their classic reimagining of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which will open in November 2024 in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Scrooge is returning to the North East this festive season and is meaner and greedier than ever in this classic reimagining of A Christmas Carol (30 Nov – 4 Jan). Adapted by Karen Louise Hebden and directed by Northern Stage artistic director Natalie Ibu, Charles Dickens’ classic story of ghosts, greed, and goodwill promises festive magic, music, and merriment, with an international cast promising circus, illusion, spectacular ghosts for children and their grown-ups. Audiences can spot iconic Newcastle landmarks with the story starting on Victorian Northumberland Street, before telling the classic Christmas story that audiences know and love.
Michael Hodgeson (The Pitmen Painters / Live Theatre / National Theatre / West End/Broadway, Get Carter/ Northern Stage) will return to Northern Stage in the iconic role of Scrooge. Michael will be joined by an incredible cast of actors and musicians, including Gigi Noel-King, an actress from London who trained at RCSSD and made her professional West End debut in Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, Taku Mutero, an alumnus of Drama Studio London, Taku’s credits include The Prophetic Soul (Salisbury Playhouse); Salome (The Bunker Theatre); Lazy Ace (Her Majesty’s Theatre) and Malik Ibheis, an actor originally from Düsseldorf, Germany who trained in mime and physical theatre at Die Etage Berlin. After five years of training, he worked as a mime, clown, actor, aerialist, and creature performer. Malik’s credits include The School for Good and Evil (Netflix), Worzel Gummidge (BBC), and Inside No.9 (BBC).
Natalie Ibu, artistic director at Northern Stage has created, “This story is one that so many of us know and love and I can’t wait to share it with young people and their grown-ups from across the North East. I especially can’t wait to see the response from some of our younger audiences who might be experiencing Dickens’ tale of greed and goodwill for the first time. I hope they leave with their hearts full of festive cheer.
“I’ve been inspired by the most incredible team of collaborators from the North East and beyond to create some real magic on our epic festive stage. You can expect circus, illusion, spectacular ghosts, and a heartwarming tale as Scrooge discovers the true spirit of Christmas.” “We are constantly overwhelmed by the generosity of our Northern Stage audiences in supporting our Pay It Forward campaign and this year has been no different. Over two thousand young people who might otherwise not be able to attend will be joining us for A Christmas Carol, giving access to creativity and sharing some Christmas joy with school groups and young people from all across our region.”
Following the release of the Theatre Green Book in 2020, theatres across the UK are working to become more environmentally friendly. Northern Stage is committed to creating shows sustainably and reducing the carbon footprint across all activities. For A Christmas Carol, costumes and set pieces from previous shows, along with salvaged vintage pieces from second-hand sites and stores, have been painstakingly transformed and repurposed to create the authentic Victorian festive look.
Natalie continued, “Debbie Duru, (set and costume designer), has wholeheartedly embraced this challenge. I’ve been so impressed with her skill and creativity in transforming and repurposing items from previous Northern Stage productions.
“We’ve set ourselves a target that 75 percent of the set and costumes will have had a previous life and will go on to have a future life beyond this show and we’re proud of that ambition.”
Tickets are now on sale for A Christmas Carol at Northern Stage and for a limited time, when you buy a full-price adult ticket to selected performances of A Christmas Carol, you will get a child’s ticket for free. For more information and to book tickets visit https://northernstage.co.uk/whats-on/a-christmas-carol/