Ebenezer is transformed in a fabulous hip-hop update

Dickens's miserly mister becomes a devilish fashion designer in 'Ebony Scrooge' at Sadler's Wells, Zoe Anderson

-  Zoe Anderson

In this smart, sharp update, dance company ZooNation flips A Christmas Carol into a contemporary hip-hop tale.

Dannielle “Rhimes” Lecointe’s production is deft and tenderhearted, bubbling over with great jokes and fabulous moves.

ZooNation has a knack for retelling classics, with a back catalogue including The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and the irresistible Some Like It Hip Hop. Here, Charles Dickens’s Ebenezer Scrooge becomes present-day Ebony, a “monochrome, meticulous” fashion designer with a dash of Cruella de Vil about her. After drinks at the Bar Humbug, her staff strip off their Christmas jumpers to work in Ebony’s icy white atelier - no colour allowed.