Just for one book, Charles Dickens will always be associated with a version of Christmas which seems to have vanished today. In his pages, it is a time of snow-dusted streets, holly and ivy, loving family union, turkey on the table and goodwill to all. Today, the image is preserved largely on greeting cards, inducing nostalgia for a time most of us never experienced. John Mortimer's delightful adaptation of A Christmas Carol, now at the Gate Theatre, milks the myth for all its emotional power, bringing moisture to the eye and a lump to the throat.
A marvellous Scrooge (by Robert O'Mahoney) underpins the theme of redemption, echoed by Tiny Tim's curtain: God bless us, every one. What a punchline.