AN academic from the University of York has had a hand in a new Royal Shakespeare Company performance of a Dickens Christmas classic.

Prof John Bowen, professor of nineteenth-century literature at the university, is expert advisor to a new RSC play that aims to give A Christmas Carol, a contemporary twist.

The play, brought to life by renowned playwright, David Edgar, will be reimagined for modern-day audiences through relating the famous tale of greed, love, and redemption to the pressures of contemporary life.

This includes naming some of the unnamed characters in the novel after social media channels and high street shops, as well as giving gendered identities to the ghosts that haunt the novels lead character, Ebenezer Scrooge.

Prof Bowen, a literary expert in Charles Dickens and other major Victorian novels, provided insight into the historical context of the novel, the inspirations of its author, and the impact the story had on readers of the 1800s through to modern day.

He said: “David Edgar has done a wonderful job in reimagining the story for a contemporary audience in ways that are both deeply faithful to the original and brilliantly recreated for our contemporary world. Through a workshop and many conversations with David and the cast, I helped to bring out the roots of the story in the terrible conditions of 1840s London and in Dickens's own childhood suffering, from which much of its much continuing power today derives."

A Christmas Carol is directed by Rachel Kavanagh and stars Phil Davis as Ebenezer Scrooge, Gerard Carey as Bob Cratchit, and Emma Pallant as Mrs Cratchit.

Emma said: “As an actor playing a character from another time and place, it is essential to have a deep understanding of the world that the character belongs to.

"John’s breadth of scholarship allowed us to gain insight into the general mood of a Dickensian city, right through to the most mundane detail, such as the price of a loaf of bread, which is truly valuable when imagining yourself into a character’s life.”

A Christmas Carol is at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford now until February 4 next year.