Performance date: 7 December 2025 @ 2.30pm.
Mischief Theatre are back at it with their rendition of Charles Dicken’s classic, A Christmas Carol, featuring all sorts of nonsense from falling lights to giant maltesers.
I need to preface this review with the fact that I was seated in the balcony and had a very restricted view, this is something you should keep in mind when booking tickets for the Apollo Theatre in London. Due to this, I couldn’t see a lot of the back of the stage and found the sound a little patchy.
Review
Back in 2017, the company produced a televised version of A Christmas Carol following their success with Peter Pan Goes Wrong. For the main body of the show, many of the jokes that were featured in the tv version have been reused in the stage show from Dennis’s inability to remember his lines, which forces him to read the script on the back of a roasting duck, inside of draws and words stuck to the back of his fellow cast member’s backs. However, the story deviates from that original production adding to the already vibrant world of the Cornely Polytechnic Drama Society and focuses less on the amateur actors putting on a performance at their local playhouse to integrating the story of good that calls out Cornley theatre director Chris Bean, playing Ebenezer Scrooge, for his controlling and often belittling traits that has been the focus point of many previous productions and the basis of his character.
The show begins with a series of auditions from well known characters like Robert Grove – and his other alias – and an overly enthusiastic Annie, a confused Dennis, a surly Trevor and an exasperated Chris Bean. This sets up the rest of the show’s mishaps from breaking the model set that needed to be sent to the designer and made specifically to specification – what could do wrong?? – and showcasing the clash of opinions between Chris and Robert. And then the show unfolds through a montage of dress rehearsals, vans crashing into the wall, that becomes integral to the building’s structure, and other nonsense that is classic Mischief and goes wrong show traits. I’ve followed the original founding members of the company throughout the last ten years or so, and I have seen their various iteration of things going wrong as well as other comedy productions. It’s reassuring to see how easily many of the original members slip back into and reprise their well developed characters and take to the stage like they’ve never left. I also enjoyed how these characters have not only evolved throughout the shows but still have those signature moments that fans have come to love.
As much as I enjoyed the classic slapstick comedy and the set not cooperating with the cast, I did feel at times the jokes were a little too obvious. This may be because I have seen a lot of comedy and can easily pick out what is subtle foreshadowing for a future punchline. I wonder if you haven’t seen anything like this before whether the experience could be different. I did feel at times the story was a little disjointed and this was partly due to the incorporation of the opening and end scenes where the Cornely drama group were out of character and back stage post show. This offered a different side to the characters and showed them as a core group who enjoy putting on a show for their local playhouse. As always the shows starts with good intentions and becomes utter chaos that the actors pull off so well. I wonder if this would have worked better without the backstage elements and been just a version of Charles Dicken’s classic tale that just to happened to go wrong, much like Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
As I mentioned previously, the view was very restricted from the balcony and this meant I did miss a lot of the physical comedy because of this. This is a common issue with older theatres in London and I wish that this was taken into consideration when designing sets. Overall, I enjoyed the mischief that was created and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys the other shows by the company.
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Amy is a writer and reviewer and her action-packed debut novel, CORNELIA FAIRFIELD AND THE DARKENED HEART is set to be published in 2026! For more content read Amy’s book reviews, short stories and updates on Amy’s writing journey posts.
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