"A Christmas Carol" by Northern Ballet.

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

It's beginning to look, and feel, a lot like Christmas in Nottingham this week. What with the Christmas lights being up and the Winter Wonderland in the Market Square, and then there's the Northern Ballet bringing a very special production of "A Christmas Carol" to the Nottingham Theatre Royal.

There are quite a few different productions of Dickens' classic Christmas story around this year, but every one is different. This production by the Northern Ballet is a sumptuous retelling of the tale in dance.

The wonderful thing about dance is that every emotion can be portrayed by dance, and even though there are very few words uttered in this production, apart from the songs, you get every feeling that is played out in this story.

This Charles Dickens story is a literary classic, so how do you deliver a literary classic without the pleasure of hearing those words that have made Dickens, and this story, a festive favourite? By delivering raw emotion and physicality.

As the clock strikes midnight Ebenezer Scrooge is forcibly taken on the journey of a lifetime to discover the true meaning of Christmas. As usual he meets with the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future through family firesides, cold winter nights and the promise of a brighter future.

Filippo Di Vilio performs the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge. Now, we all know that you have to be an exceptional dancer to even reach the doorstep of the Northern Ballet, so that goes without saying, and having been a fan of Northern Ballet for a while now, you know that every dancer on that stage have earned their stripes. So, what I am going to concentrate on is the acting ability of Mr Di Vilio. 

You can almost see realisation peeling away from the character as we go through the three scenes. He starts as tight as a duck's derriere, even scrabbling around the floor of the office and searching Cratchit for the missing money, before finding it on the floor, and then after rebuking the revellers, he snaps a placard with "Merry Christmas" written on it and whirlwinds back into his workspace. With the four eerie apparitions he encounters you can see his frosty frontage melting.

What I also must mention is the incredible wigs and make up that is involved in this production and especially in creating Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Harry Skoupas plays the part of Jacob Marley. We start by seeing Marley's coffin being paraded through the streets and interred, and then comes the visitation to Scrooge. And I tell you what, I wouldn't be surprised if the younger audience members don't have nightmares after seeing this show and the fabulous costumes and make up for some of these characters. Marley's ghost being just one, the other being the Ghost of Christmas To Come, which is also played by Harry Skoupas.

The costume for this particular ghost is nothing short of Spectre-tacular, a real work of art. If you are a fan of Eddie, the creature featured on the front of all of Iron Maiden's album sleeves, then this creation is the spitting image of Eddie. You can see ghostly ribs and other bones, and that face mask will haunt you. Take a look at the picture to the left above.

Jack Ogrizovic is Tiny Tim, complete with leg iron and tin whistle. This young man showed not one iota of nerves in this role and responded perfectly to stage directions and cues. He also gets to sing in this show and is definitely one to look out for in a few years time.

The rest of the cast are......

Kevin Poeung (Young Scrooge), Yu Wakizuka (Nephew), Alessia Petrosino (Nephew's Wife), Dominique Larose (Ghost of Christmas Past), Andrew Tomlinson (Ghost of Christmas Present), Joseph Taylor (Bob Cratchit), Kirica Takahashi (Mrs Cratchit), Mayuko Iwanaga, Aerys Merrill, Archie Sherman (Cratchit Children), Antoni Cañellas Artigues (Mr Fezziwig), Helen Bogatch (Mrs Fezziwig), Saeka Shirai (Belle), Jun Ishii (Fiddler).

Harriet Marden, Sarah Chun, Gemma Coutts, Kaho Masumoto, Isabelle Clough, Nida Aydinoğlu, Rachael Gillespie, Sena Kitano, Julie Nunès, Jonathan Hanks, Harris Beattie, Albert González Orts, Bruno Serraclara, Miguel Teixeira, Bruno Varalta ( Christmas Shoppers, Phantoms, Cornhill Slide, Party Guests, Tavern Drinkers, Hags) And I must put this out there also, the scene with the phantoms is something like a scene from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video!

The children involved in this production are from the Gedling Ballet School, and what a thrill it must be for them to appear on the same stage with such masters of their trade.

Directed and Devised by Christopher Gable CBE

Choreographer: Massimo Moricone

Production Design: Lez Brotherston

Music: Carl Davis

Lighting Designer: Paul Pyant
Tour Lighting: Alastair West.

The set really does have to be seen to be believed; it's remarkable.

Music recording is courtesy of the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Recorded by Orchestra, Wellington in 2014 at the St James Theatre, Wellington, New Zealand and conducted by Nigel Gaynor. Due to cuts to the Arts, this production have been unable to tour with a live orchestra.

So, if you haven't got that Holly, Jolly Christmas feeling just yet, get the family down to the theatre because by the time you come out of the theatre after watching this beautiful show, you'll be yearning for mince pies and Christmas jumpers, because it's got Christmas written all over it, and a reminder to just be nicer to people. You do not want the Ghost of Christmas To Come to be diving out of your

duvet in the middle of the night!!

Northern Ballet's "A Christmas Carol" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 30 November.