It has been confirmed that for the first time an immersive production of A Christmas Carol will take place at Windsor Castle’s State Apartments in December.
From the 16th to the 30th December, theatre company Watch Your Head will present the festive favourite in the castle’s two largest rooms, where the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret performed Christmas pantomimes during the Second World War.
Tailor-made for Windsor castle and using Charles Dickens’s words from his public readings, this production combine immersive elements and live music to whisk audiences back to a Victorian Christmas.
Audiences will accompany Ebenezer Scrooge from the Castle gates to the Waterloo Chamber, where Jacob Marley awaits to conjure his haunting dreams of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. A cast of actors and musicians performing all around will transform the colossal space into Dickensian London, before the audience follows Scrooge into St George’s Hall to celebrate his new-found festive spirit beneath the Castle’s spectacular Christmas tree.
These nine performances will form part of a programme of Victorian-themed activities at Windsor Castle this Christmas.
Talking about the news Jemima Rellie, Director of Content and Audiences, Royal Collection Trust, said, ‘Windsor Castle at Christmas time evokes images of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their young family celebrating around the Christmas tree. As part of our Victorian-themed festive programme, we are excited to be staging an immersive Christmas performance in the State Apartments for the first time, and are sure that audiences will enjoy a unique experience that they will treasure for years to come.’
This is the third collaboration between Watch Your Head and the Royal Collection Trust, following on from their recently staged immersive performances of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Castle’s Moat Garden.
This production is directed by Sasha McMurray, with costumes designed by Annina Pfeul and an original score by Joseph Reuben.
A Christmas Carol will play at Windsor Castle from the 16th to the 30th December. For more information and to book tickets visit: https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/whatson/event/854050/A-Christmas-Carol