Scrooge is a more than usually pathetic loner in John Mortimer's stage adaptation of Dickens's A Christmas Carol.

Sympathy for him increases as the three spirits reveal the world beyond his misanthropy and miserliness.

But in this densely-populated and energised production by Stephen Badman and Gary Meredith for Gwent Young People's Theatre, his vices are overwhelmed from the start.

Apart from the principals in the Dickens story, there is a stage full of characters whose choreographed movement illustrates the bustle of a city, the citizens of which are jolly and optimistic in spite of themselves and of the anti-hero who stands in opposition to them.

They act as a classic chorus, except that here its members move independently and with uninhibited vigour and its spoken lines are scattered throughout the ensemble, sometimes one at a time and with a rapidity of execution that requires the audience's undivided regard.

The sketches within the play are inserted seamlessly and require much doubling of parts.

And there's more - jaw-dropping puppetry, especially in the scene recalling Scrooge's schooldays; singing which unites the company and presents a contrast to its otherwise motley variety; and the effective use of props.

All the leading actors and cameo players are outstanding and only lack of space permits mention of each one. So let Mathew Watkins (Scrooge) and Matthew von Pokorny (Tiny Tim, and the show's accompanist) represent them all.

The performance is yet another model of how young people in Gwent with talent and enthusiasm can be brought to a pitch of perfection by professional instructors.