A Christmas Carol - with a Belfast twist

It's a Christmas classic, but not as we know it.

Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol has been reimagined by playwright Marie Jones in the setting of Victorian Belfast.

It features familiar accents and unfolds against the backdrop of the city's entries and backstreets - and landmarks such as the Oyster Rooms and St Peter's Cathedral.

Belfast-born actor Dan Gordon, who plays Ebenezer Scrooge at the Lyric Theatre, said the local setting is "absolutely crucial" to the production.

"It's in the Belfast idiom that Marie knows so well, that her audiences know so well and new audiences really appreciate, particularly people from here," he told BBC News NI.

Marie, who also hails from Belfast, feels it gives audiences a sense of ownership.

"It's ours," she said. "It's not in the middle of Birmingham or Manchester or London - it's Belfast."

The story follows the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by a series of ghosts on Christmas Eve, starting with his old business partner, Jacob Marley.

The three spirits which follow, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come, show him how his behaviour has affected others - and by the end he has changed into a generous and kind human being.

Marie was inspired by The Muppet Christmas Carol.

"Most of the productions I've seen [of A Christmas Carol] are very dry, a bit turgid, a bit wordy, a bit boring and then there's the muppets which bring it to life," she said.

She felt the adaptation to a Belfast setting could work, particularly since there were a lot of similarities between Victorian Belfast and Victorian London.

"It was the same poverty, the same kind of people - the mill owners, the landowners, the factory owners that ran Belfast."

When Marie first had the idea she emailed Jimmy Fay, the Lyric Theatre's executive producer.

"I said: 'I want to take A Christmas Carol and set it in the back streets of Belfast', and he went: 'You'll not believe what I'm doing - reading A Christmas Carol'.

"And I went: 'There you go, there's an omen', so that's what we did."

The set, she said, is like a pop-up book.

"I could see the reality of the streets - the old Victorian Belfast.

"I grew up in the 50s and 60s and it hadn't changed that much - and then when it's recreated you just go: 'Oh I'm so excited'."

It's Dan's second year playing Scrooge - he also played the role last year, the first time the production was staged at the Lyric.

He said this year features "new and improved ghosts" with "an edge to them".

Marley is "scarier than last year" and his appearance is "a little surprising, particularly for the little ones", he said.

"But Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, that's the real scary boy, because he's like a Dalek and he doesn't speak and he doesn't need to."

Revisiting the play has been an "interesting experience" - something he has always wanted to do.

"When you've tested it with an audience, you've seen what worked and what didn't work and how you can make things better because they wanted more of it," he said.

"That's the kind of premise we've worked on this year."

Overall Dan sees it as a story of redemption.

"It's a story of somebody who's quite an unpleasant character, who doesn't see the good in anything, seeing the good in everything.

"That journey is what we enjoy as an audience - seeing him soften and weaken and then realise there is good in everyone, even in him."