A late cancellation of the local theatre's Christmas Show forced a group of local creatives into a 'rescue mission' to ensure that their theatre would not go dark during the festive season.

With only 5 weeks to go before opening night, the team decided that a series of outtakes from Dickensian stories could be put together quickly and provide a great piece of festive theatre for the regular Christmas audiences. 

Gordon lead the development of the narrative, building an overall story as a vehicle for the various sketches, and then acted as script editor to bring it seamlessly together.

The story rested on a Music Hall style cabaret of Dickensian scenes from well loved tales, at which Charles Dickens himself was expected to turn up and perform. His imminent arrival was constantly thwarted throughout the show, but the audiences expectations were compensated by a colourful and lively show performed by a an energetic cast.

Shift Key Theatre designed all the publicity material, and also contributed to the set design and build, working with designer Emily Clay.