A Christmas Carol

Dickens Theatre Company bring A Christmas Carol to the Connaught Theatre on Thursday 17 December, with two performances that day: a matinee at 2:30pm and an evening show at 7:30pm. It's part of their 'Revision on Tour' programme, which turns classic English GCSE texts into theatre for students and literature lovers. The company is celebrating its 11th year, and this production stays close to the original story.

The staging is where it gets a bit different from your usual adaptation. The action lands in the footlights when Charles Dickens and his tour manager, George Dolby, get stuck on a train and are forced to cover the show themselves. They don't just play Ebenezer Scrooge; between them they take on more than 30 characters across the course of the play. Reviewers have praised it as an authentic staging that keeps very close to the original story, and the company provides an Education Pack explaining how the production supports GCSE English study.

It's a relatively short show: an hour and ten minutes with no interval, or an hour and thirty minutes if there is one. The matinee includes a free 20-minute post-show Q&A with the cast, so if you're taking kids or students, that's a good chance to pick their brains. Age guidance is 8+.

Tickets start at £17 plus a £1.75 transaction fee, with students getting £1.50 off each ticket, except for Band A+. There's also one free ticket for every ten you buy, which makes it a decent shout for a school group or a big family outing. The Connaught is on Union Place, Worthing, BN11 1LG.