Not to be outdone by the dazzling array of Christmas shows emerging around Oxford, Pegasus is throwing it’s hat into the ring with an in-house professional production of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Adapted by its former artistic director Neil Bartlett, who staged it at the Lyric Hammersmith, you can expect an all-singing-all-dancing Victorian spectacle, with a Pegasus twist.

“We wanted to take a classic story and then depict it in an unusual way, to maintain the elements that people will recognise but give it a contemporary feel,” Pegasus’ Gill Jaggers explained.

“We hope to make you smile and wonder what it would be like if the same scenario happened today, so it shifts between the Victorian era and the modern day. For example the charity collectors who come to Scrooge’s house at the beginning are dressed in high vis jackets.”

The costumes and set are designed by the legendary Liz Cooke, and the cast is equally as professional: Richard Kidd, inset, a local actor who plays Scrooge, has been touring his one man show Macbeth, while Anna Wheatley, who plays Mrs Cratchit is an Oxford School of Drama graduate.

Some of the additional cast members have been pilfered from the Pegasus Youth Theatre group, making it a real community endeavour.

All the actors multi-task and play several different characters, there is a fabulous soundtrack made up of lots of different voices, singing and dancing all the way through as well as carols and festive songs.

Gill adds: “More than anything we want to say ‘this is what Pegasus does’ and introduce ourselves to a whole new audience as well as reminding our regulars what we are about, so we are really pleased we have a Pegasus Christmas offering. It’s been a lot of fun and I think people are really going to like it.”

SEE IT
A Christmas Carol is at Pegasus, Magdalen Road, Oxford from tomorrow until Saturday January 2
Call 01865 812150 or see pegasustheatre.org.uk