Review: Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, narrated by actor Paul Ryan

This was an unusual concept - not a musical concert but a story telling. It’s the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra again, being innovative and using talents ‘outside the box’.

So this time it was an animated reading of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol”, read by Paul Ryan, abridged and directed by Richard Williams. They were accompanied by The Philharmonic’s Brass Quintet, together with Joanna MacGregor at the enormous grand piano, brought in for the occasion.

Brought in where? No, not The Brighton Dome - this time it was St George’s Church, Kemptown, and it worked perfectly for two consecutive 70-minute performances at 6pm and 8pm. There was an intimacy about it - not to mention the wine and mince pies served as you entered, to give the audience that family feeling.

Actor Paul Ryan came in at the last minute to substitute for Pip Torrens, who was unwell. Mr Ryan is known for countless screen and stage rôles, The Artful Dodger in Oliver, to name one. Book narration is an art and, as Torrens would have done, Ryan stole the evening with his vivid reading of the Dickens story. How Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser, is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come. How this mean-spirited man develops a friendship with his colleague Bob Cratchit’s crippled son, Tiny Tim, a courageous boy whose kindness and humility warmed Scrooge's heart.

Dickens himself had read the story publicly, and Paul Ryan could indeed have been the author himself. He did all the voices and accents; he gave the story passion, indignation, tenderness. He held us in his grip.

The reading was punctuated by familiar classical motifs and popular songs by the BPO Brass Quintet: two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba, led impressively by Joanna MacGregor herself, playing and directing, and creating intermittent rumbles on the internal piano strings. ‘Oh come, Oh Come Emanuel’; a Haydn Gypsy Rondo, and other works from 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

This lively and uplifting performance reminded us of the need for humility and kindness in place of pride and stinginess; how the rewards of this is where richness is created, not by financial greed.

We, the audience, were encouraged to sing along at the end. We left with minds filled with food for thought, and a continuing appreciation for what the Brighton Philharmonic offers us.

Next concert is once more at The Brighton Dome: New Year’s Eve - Sunday 31st December, 2.45pm. Tickets £40 to £13, Box Office 01273 709709, or online.