Scrooge

> Norwich Puppet Theatre

That old curmudgeon Scrooge! What a delight this grumpy old skinflint can be, especially on stage.

In Theatre Taptoe's version he is suitably grotesque: half puppet, half man, almost rotund with a black and white stripy waistcoat. Not unlike an Aubrey Beardsley sketch.

In characteristic pose, we see him half lit in his dingy office kissing the pound notes before he tucks them away in his pocket.

But alas! He is assailed by Bob Cratchit (a Hoover look-alike carrying his wife inside as a kind of extension) who asks him for money and then there are the pop-eyed carol singers, who plague him with their requests for charity . . . things can barely get worse.

Until, that is, he is assailed by the shadowy Marley and the spirits of Christmas past, present and future. A sequence which included a naked man (off stage!) and clever projections of Scrooge's past self.

Perfect Christmas entertainment, which would be best enjoyed with roasted chestnuts and a mince pie for afters!