Olivier Award winner John Dagleish takes the title role in Cratchit, an astute rewriting of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol which has its live world premiere at London’s Park Theatre for a strictly limited Christmas season from 7 December 2021 to 8 January 2022, with a press night on 9 December.
Alexander Knott’s Cratchit reimagines the well-loved tale of Ebenezer Scrooge from the perspective of Bob Cratchit, with Cratchit played by Dagleish, who previously played the same character in Jack Thorne’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic in 2017.
As a hard frost descends on London Town, Bob Cratchit gets his own visit from the spirits of Christmastime. Catapulted forward through the years, the poorly paid clerk is shown a bleak vision of the future world: inequality and strife perpetuate, while the gap between the 1% and everyone else grows wider.
Cratchit is a darker look at Dickens’ tale of redemption, a call to arms against injustice and rallying cry for solidarity and fortitude.
Cratchit premiered online under the title December at the Old Red Lion Theatre in winter 2020. It was streamed to audiences at home during lockdown to critical acclaim. The play captured the troubled image of the future world shown to Bob Cratchit and fleshed out Dickens’ famously upbeat character, showing him to be a stoic but flawed man soldiering on against the odds. It has now been reworked in preparation for its live premiere at Park Theatre this Christmas.
Cratchit runs at London’s Park Theatre 7 December 2021-8 January 2022
John Dagleish won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Sunny Afternoon at the Hampstead Theatre and Harold Pinter Theatre. In addition to A Christmas Carol, his other theatre credits include Sylvia at the Old Vic and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Young Vic.
In Cratchit, Dagleish is joined in the cast by Freya Sharp as Martha Cratchit. Freya’s previous work includes The Bandaged Woman and Nuclear War at the Old Red Lion Theatre.
Cratchit writer and director Alexander Knott said:
“I could not be more excited about this festive retelling, alongside such a stellar team. Now more than ever, at the coldest time of year, it is vital to find the balance between the difficulties and hardship of winter that so many face, and the hope and promise that Christmas brings.
“John and Freya are superb, versatile performers and we are all looking forward to bringing this haunting, modern and ultimately uplifting winter’s ghost story to Park Theatre.”
The premiere production has movement direction by Zöe Grain, set and costume design by Emily Bestow, lighting design by Chloe Kenward, sound design and composition by James Demaine and Samuel Heron, video design by Charles Flint. Ryan Hutton is associate director.
Cratchit is produced by Jack Maple and Brian Zeilinger-Goode for MZG Theatre Productions and Bruce Robert Harris and Jack W Batman in association with Bag Of Beard, Ragovoy Entertainment Group and Park Theatre.
Meet the producers
MZG Theatre Productions recent credits include: The Show Must Go On! Live (Palace Theatre), Terrence Rattigan’s All On Her Own (stream.theatre), Private Peaceful (Bristol Old Vic & Barn Theatre), the Tonight at the London Coliseum concert series, The View UpStairs (Soho Theatre) and the Offie Award-winning revival of Kander & Ebb’s The Rink (Southwark Playhouse).
Bruce Robert Harris and Jack W Batman are two-time Tony Award-winning producers who have presented over 60 new plays, musicals and classic revivals, particularly for Broadway and the West End, plus many private and corporate events, since forming their producing partnership. Their recent Broadway productions include Gary: A Sequel To Titus Andronicus, Be More Chill, King Kong and American Son. They are represented in London by Magic Mike Live and in Las Vegas by Criss Angel Mindfreak.
