REVIEW: A Christmas Carol reimagined at Leeds Playhouse

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Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. She reviews theatre and cultural events in and around the district in her spare time.

You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com. 

Dickens’ beloved A Christmas Carol is synonymous with the festive season, and most are familiar with this classic tale of redemption at Christmastime; yet, in theatre, even the best-known tales can be crafted anew.

Leeds Playhouse’s 2025 Christmas show is a spirited reimagining that oozes ghostliness, playfulness and festivity, with a touch of Yorkshire grit sprinkled on top.

Adapted by Deborah McAndrew and directed by Amy Leach, the audience finds itself in Victorian Leeds, where our miserly Ebenezer Scrooge (Reece Dinsdale) presides over a Yorkshire woollen mill. Forget London: this is Dickens, West Yorkshire-style.

Over the Quarry Theatre’s vast stage loom large industrial chimneys, pumping out thick smoke, and great cast iron wheels and hard railings frame the brooding scene, all exuding the gloominess of this unforgiving era.

The ghosts that deliver Scrooge on his whistle-stop tour of his past, present and future are marvellously portrayed. We are treated to four, quite variously rendered, spectres (I won’t give too much away), as well as the humorous addition of a gaggle of mischievous poltergeists. Lighting by Jai Morjaria is spectacular and transformative, especially during the supernatural episodes when we join Scrooge inside his nightmares.

There is spookiness, unquestionably, but there is also great fun and humour about this production. Set against the fog and the gloom, there is colour, too, with splendid costume (the human dancing baubles were a personal favourite) and a spirit of celebration, with several rousing musical numbers performed to original music by a multi-talented cast of actors, singers, dancers and instrumentalists.

With theatrical ingenuity, the production mingles darkness and light, while maintaining Dickens’ essential message of human connection. The Cratchits’ tale is told beautifully, the family performing using BSL; throughout the production, deaf and hearing actors communicate seamlessly.

The power of connection and communication, and ultimately, of love, underpin the play, and fill it with festivity and joy: enough to make even the most wretched of scrooges smile.

A Christmas Carol is on at Leeds Playhouse until 17 January 2026.