National Theatre Of Scotland Present A CHRISTMAS CAROL For The Festive Season, From Dec 7

The National Theatre of Scotland is delighted to be bringing back the Company’s fabulous, festive offering A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted, directed and designed by Graham McLaren. The production will be presented in an intimate and specially crafted performance space at The Old Kirk, Kirkcaldy from Friday 7 December to Saturday 30 December, 2012.

Benny Young will return to play Scrooge and will be joined by three of the original cast and puppeteers, Stephen Clyde, Josh Elwell and Beth Marshall, and National Theatre of Scotland newcomer Stuart Angell. Originally penned in 1843 as a novella, A Christmas Carol was an instant success and Dickens' redemptive tale of Scrooge, Jacob Marley and the ghosts of Christmas’ Past, Present and Future, has long become an enduring Christmas favourite.

The National Theatre of Scotland’s production will bring Dickens’ classic Christmas fable to life for contemporary audiences with sinister life-size puppets and live music, played out in an unique setting. This spooky and original reimagining is recommended for everyone aged 8+.

The National Theatre of Scotland’s pop-up theatre production of A Christmas Carol had its debut run in Govan Town Hall, Glasgow in 2011. It garnered five star reviews, critical acclaim and two awards at the Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland ceremony earlier this year, in the categories of Best Ensemble and Best Production.

The venue for this year’s production will be the Old Kirk, the oldest building in Kirkcaldy. This "B" listed parish church was bought by the Kirkcaldy Old Kirk Trust in 2011 to preserve its use for the local community and it now exists as a concert hall, community resource, heritage centre and continues to be a place of worship.

A Christmas Carol is the final production from a season of work presented by The National Theatre of Scotland in Fife and is part of an ongoing relationship with ON at FIFE.   This autumn/winter programme will see Count Me In (written and performed by Gary McNair), Jump(an ambitious, large-scale community-led project involving Scottish secondary school boys and Parkour, French free-running and hip-hop storytelling) and the Citizens Theatre’s Yellow Moon and The Monster in the Hall (written by highly-respected playwright and theatre director David Greig) performed throughout the Kingdom in local schools and community centres.

This production has been made possible by the generous support of Kirkcaldy 4 All, The Fife Council Strategic Events Investment Programme and Fife Council Kirkcaldy Area Committee.

Graham McLaren is an Associate Director at The National Theatre of Scotland. Graham’s production of Great Expectations will tour this autumn prior to a West End run in London. His acclaimed production of Men Should Weep enjoyed a sell-out run at the Citizens Theatre and a successful Scottish tour in 2011.  He is a Glasgow-based theatre artist who has previously been Artistic Director of Theatre Babel, which he founded and Artistic/Associate Director of Perth Theatre. He is currently Associate Artist at Necessary Angel, a Toronto based Theatre Company where his recent work, Andromach, premiered at the Luminato Festival in 2011.

Gavin Glover has previously worked with The National Theatre of Scotland on Peter Pan. Gavin is director of Potato Room productions, a puppet company for grown-ups. He was a founder member of FaultyOptic: Theatre of Animation and productions for the company include:Dead Wedding (Manchester International Festival), Horsehead, Licked (with Opera North), Soiled, Snuffhouse Dustlouse, Tunnelvision and Bubbly Beds.

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