Alastair Sim, Basil Rathbone, Michael Caine, Sid James, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carrey and Michael Gambon — all have played the role of the miserly Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at one time or another. And that’s not including Tommy Steele, who is touring in Scrooge the Musical.

Now a new name is added to the list — Noel White, who plays Scrooge in a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ famous story, which is being staged by Creation Theatre this Christmas.

Meeting up with Noel in the early days of rehearsals, I asked him how he’d reacted when first offered the role of the sour, party-pooping old man.

“Thanks, first of all! It’s a fantastic story, and you grow up with it, it’s in your bones. There is the history, of course, to the part, and the people who have played it: apart from the Ghost of Christmas Past, who haunts Scrooge, there are the ghosts of Alastair Sim, and all the other great actors who have played the role, and who are no longer alive. I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to have a go at something like this.

“I remember Alastair Sim from when I was a kid, but I haven’t seen his performance since I’ve become an actor. I’m not going to revisit it — I think it’s important to start from scratch. The other Scrooge I really like is Michael Caine with the Muppets; it’s a terrific interpretation of the story, full of life and energy.”

But given all those past performances, what, I asked Noel, can he actually bring to the role that’s fresh and new?

“All the answers are in the novel really, it’s so detailed and rich. My work is to just bring the part to life. As we speak, we’re only on day two of rehearsals, but just this morning I got a really interesting take. We were working on the Ghost of Christmas Past, at the point where he shows Scrooge his old school. In our adaptation, Scrooge sees a couple of school kids from his past. He wants to communicate with them, he’s very enthusiastic. “But then we thought: Scrooge was shipped off to this school by his dad, and he was very lonely, so those kids probably weren’t his friends at all.

“So Scrooge becomes his lonely 12-year-old self again. It kind of took my breath away as I wondered: what would it be like if you could really go back and revisit your past?”

Acting is, of course, all about turning yourself into someone else. But does Noel White himself have any Scrooge-like tendencies?

“I can be a party-pooper at times: I find parties too noisy. As for tightness with money, I’ve been an actor for 20 years, so I am very aware of how precarious the profession is. I’ve gone through times when I’ve made quite a lot of money, but I am careful with it. I have a friend who is in a long-running TV series, but he is always broke. It makes no sense!”

A Christmas Carol runs at the North Wall, South Parade, Oxford, from December 8-January 7. Tickets: 01865 766266, or online at: www.creationtheatre.co.uk