It's Christmas Eve and in the Little Town of Liverpool, Carol Winters is getting a promotion.
At home her teenage daughter Holly is unhappy but the hard-nosed businesswoman is so busy climbing the ladder at Dickens Department Store that she can’t see it.
Enter Eve, Joy and Faith to teach her a lesson about where her priorities should lie, in this modern take on A Christmas Carol.
Writer (and star) Helen Carter wanted to create a show full of hope and kindness, and the result is a touching story of family, friendship and female solidarity that’s a tinsel-tinged triumph.
Here the glimpses of past, present and future aren’t spirits but people you and I might meet on any given day - the busker with a heart of gold, the businesswoman with regrets and the woman sobbing in the next toilet.
They seem almost too good to be true at first, but each one will leave audiences thinking about their own path through life and the road not taken.
Carter (last seen at the theatre in My Fairfield Lady) is fantastic as Carol, with an emotional journey that never seems forced.
She imbues her with a warmth that makes her easy to root for (even at her most heartless) and her emotional performance of Hallelujah is a lump-in-throat inducing highlight of the show.
Her relationship with daughter Holly (talented Molly Madigan, who gets to perform her own composition Hold On) is the heart and soul of the story.
The all-female cast combine on some lovely harmonies, switch roles and make good use of the small stage at the Royal Court Studio.
Eithne Browne is reliably brilliant as ruthless manager Gloria, lascivious worker Christian, businesswoman Faith and a grumpy taxi driver, while Paislie Reid and Angela Simms get big laughs as a disinterested receptionist and cheerful Joy.
As Carol goes about her day the action is loosely narrated by guitarist Sherry (Rachel Hilton), and the addition of some familiar Christmas songs (lyrics cleverly changed to suit the plot) and twinkling lights add to the festive feel.
You know exactly where it’s going from the start but that really doesn’t matter, and it’s like a big, comforting Christmas hug.
Merry Christmas, Carol is at the Royal Court Studio until Sunday, December 29.
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