The magic and wonder of A Christmas Carol is a festive favourite for many. In Australia it’s an escape to the romantic white Christmastime of Victorian England that has come to be deemed quintessentially Christmas. Robbie Burns from Cluedunnit brings the charm and pure Englishness of Dickensian London to Downstairs @The Maj and it fits in perfectly! Picture it – a big leather armchair, a tall desk and a small desk, each equipped with nineteenth century paraphernalia – and a huge thick tome that serves as a ledger but also the story itself. As Burns lights a candle we all settle back into our comfortable chairs and are instantly swept up in the tale.

Burns is every bit the embodiment of A Christmas Carol – beginning as narrator, citing the original story verbatim, he moves seamlessly from character to character. There is a chill in the air as he shifts into the gnarled and prickly Mr Ebeneezer Scrooge – words familiar, deftly performed in an indignant wheeze – his characteristics are every bit the unfriendly miser. Switching between the charming and adorable Bob Cratchitt, the gregarious nephew, and the unwitting men after a charitable donation, Burns moves from each character with ease. It’s remarkable to watch – he doesn’t break stride and suspends disbelief the whole way through. Of course, it could be the story itself but Burns’ physicality combined with sheer storytelling prowess send a crackling thrill up every spine as he approaches the door knocker to see the ghost of Jacob Marley.

It’s a wonderfully faithful rendition – Burns weaves the tale of redemption and giving with ease – flitting like firelight from person to person, ghost to ghost, and boy to man. Burns breathes life into Tiny Tim and the Cratchits’, he bubbles over with joy as Mr Fezziwig, and devastates as Scrooge’s lost love. Of course, this is a story about Mr Scrooge and Burns is so convincing he almost makes the character endearing. Wry smiles coil on the lips of the audience as Scrooge condemns the poor and the needy, and there is not a dry eye in the house as he begs for the chance to redeem himself – joyously shouting to the boy to buy the biggest turkey in the window.

A Christmas Carol is held in very high esteem and Burns absolutely does it justice. He performs with aplomb and retains the magic and charm of the show, which is essentially like having Christmas incarnate in a little theatre in the middle of Perth’s summer. Now that’s magic.

LAURA MONEY- FOURTH WALL MEDIA