A Christmas Carol Review: Operation Moonlight revival fails to find its spirit
09 November 2026 | 19:30 | Trinity Arts Centre, Gainsborough (UK Tour)
⭐⭐ | PR - Invite
Founded in 2025, Operation Moonlight's ethos is to bring high-quality entertainment to the smaller regions of the UK, led by a team of creative professionals. Tonight, they return to Gainsborough's Trinity Arts Centre to open their 2026 winter tour of A Christmas Carol, after taking this production (directed by Beck Gadsby) out on the road last year.
Unless you live under a rock, it is likely that you will encounter a version of A Christmas Carol at some time in your life, across hundreds of stage and screen reimaginings. A story that follows the miserable old Ebenezer Scrooge who, one Christmas Eve night is visited by four spirits, each warning him of his bleak future should he refuse to change his selfish tendencies.
In the event that we see many re-mountings of this Dickens classic every year, it's natural that we become comparative with others. Granted, a 2* review can seem tough for a newly established company, and I preface this by saying that their creative commitment is abundantly clear. The overall vision displays serious potential, though it is ultimately limited by its material and stagecraft.
Where the evening relies heavily on the performance of Ebenezer Scrooge, Troy Chessman takes brilliant strides in the leading role, spitting his lines with such ferocity and intent. While he refines the part with a convincing, mature vocal tone and aged makeup, Chessman's playing age is ultimately too young (early-mid 30s) for Scrooge, who pivots on being an older gentleman turned bitter through his years. We want to believe his life experience.
Adapted by Andy Mullins, the script doesn't always focus on the right parts of the story, where a 2hrs 10m run time could easily be condensed by stripping the scenes that do not complement its overall arc. A promising partnership arises between Andrew Powell (Young Scrooge) and Lucy Kean (Belle), although the text seems to mistake Victorian language with over-complicated language, losing the pair's tenderness through its wanting for profundity.
The various ghostly appearances have their highs and lows. Jacob Marley's pre-entrance soundscape succeeds in unsettling the audience, with clattering chains and breathy whispers of 'Ebenezer'. Miles Kinsley's voice booms as Scrooge's former business partner, though his forceful stomps across the stage and constant dropping of chains drowns the dialogue out. He later fights an invisible force which tries to pull him out of Scrooge's home, though Kinsley is directed to awkwardly scuffle with himself, in which there is no plausible tension where he controls both the push and pull.
Sarah Gain's Ghost of Christmas Past is highly commendable, reminiscent of a spiritual warden of sorts, always present and ethereal in her stance. A billowy white costume (designed by Roisin Waters) helps to characterise this floaty benevolence for Gain's spirit.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come takes the form of a 12-foot hooded puppet made of shredded black fabric, which is quite intimidating in its height! However when the lights go up and the haze disperses, the puppet's mechanics are exposed, resulting in various bouts of laughter from viewers once we encounter its bizarreness.
Transitions often result in the ensemble swirling props around Scrooge, where Tommelise Peters' scenic design is inspired by the concept of time. Backed by a giant, fractured clock and wheeled set pieces, these rotating elements each follow a clock's notion of going around in circles. Its flow between scenes is generally consistent, though must be careful not to indulge in silence; audiences don't need to hear the stacking of paper before a line is spoken, nor repeated moments of contemplation.
A Christmas Carol can feel like an easy play to get right, but the reality is that it can be immensely challenging given its familiarity and grounding on supernatural belief. Presented by Operation Moonlight, a cast of seven actors are overwhelmed by the expectation of frequent multi-rolling, often diminishing characters to stereotypes in a bid to make each role more distinctive. But irrespective of this, you can see their passion for bringing an authentic, cordial Christmas event to the people, and its local community tour will warm the hearts of families.
UK Tour Dates & Further Information: https://operationmoonlight.com/theatre/#Tour-List-Theatre
