The adapter for the stage of one of Charles Dickens's favourite seasonal tales, John Mortimer, was in the Gate on Wednesday night to see his work, under the lively and orderly direction of Alan Stanford, receive a rapturous reception from an attentive and appreciative audience. The reception was well deserved for, notwithstanding its popularity and seasonality, the story of Scrooge's conversion from miserliness to madcap generosity is not naturally theatrical material. Its narrative does not have a great deal of dramatic impetus and there can hardly be a member of the audience who does not already know the story and its outcome.

Mr Mortimer has cleverly given most of the narrative to a lively and highly mobile chorus of four (Phelim Drew, Mark O'Regan, Andrea Irvine and Catherine Walsh) who also don tiny cameo roles from time to time and sing excellently. Indeed all the music - a succession of carols, of course - from all of the large company under the musical direction of David Falconer is excellent. The character of Scrooge is necessarily somewhat of a caricature, but Robert O'Mahoney carefully underplays it for much of the time and goes gleefully over the top after his conversion from "Bah! Humbug!" to "Merry Christmas!" by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, all lambently played by Pat Kinevane in what was probably the performance of the night.

Everyone else in the company makes the most of what snippets each gets with two or more roles and little opportunity to shape characters: the sense of ensemble and assurance is remarkably good. And Bruno Schwengl's set and costume designs are simply and effectively evocative of countless Christmas cards, nicely lit in both light and shadow by Rupert Murray to create an atmosphere wholly appropriate to most people's perceptions of a Dickensian Christmas. The whole may not be quite a milestone in the development of dramatic art, but it is a most enjoyable and affecting evening of seasonal theatre.

Runs until February 5th. To book phone 01-8744085