Shows / A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol: a live GCSE performance for secondary schools
By Charles Dickens. Touring November to December 2027.
The production
On a cold, white Christmas Eve, the embittered Ebenezer Scrooge sits alone in his chambers when he is visited by the tortured ghost of Jacob Marley. His late business partner now regrets the way he lived, and warns Scrooge that he too is doomed unless he heeds the three spirits about to visit him.
Our faithful adaptation takes the audience through the major plot points and scenes of the novella, in Dickens’s own words wherever possible.
A 60-minute performance is followed by a workshop of up to 30 minutes, where the cast explore how the novella’s themes and key quotations informed their decisions, and answer pupils’ questions.
Who it’s for
- Key stage
- KS4 (also suitable for KS3)
- Exam boards
- AQA, Edexcel, Eduqas and OCR
- Running time
- 60-minute performance, then a workshop of up to 30 minutes
- Cast
- Number of actors per show
- Space
- 6m × 5m performance area, ideally the main hall, drama studio or theatre
What the workshop covers
Themes
- Redemption and change
- Social responsibility
- Poverty and inequality
- Family and community
- The spirit of Christmas
Key quotations
- “Solitary as an oyster”
- “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?”
- “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want.”
- “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year”
Context
- The 1834 Poor Law and the workhouse
- Malthus and ideas about the “surplus population”
- Dickens’s own childhood and his campaigning journalism
When it tours
November to December 2027. Tell us your preferred weeks and any mock exam dates, and we’ll offer dates that work around them.
touring window for A Christmas Carol
Questions schools ask
When does A Christmas Carol tour?
It tours in November and December 2027. Many schools book in June or July for the following Christmas, so early booking is the safest way to get your preferred date.
Will it clash with mock exams?
Mocks often take the hall from November. Tell us your mock dates when you enquire and we will offer dates around them.
Which exam boards is it suitable for?
A Christmas Carol is a GCSE English Literature set text for AQA, Edexcel, Eduqas and OCR.
When was A Christmas Carol published?
Dickens published A Christmas Carol on 19 December 1843. It sold out its first printing by Christmas Eve.