Australian Production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL is Raising Money in Aid of Food Bank During Premiere Melbourne Season

Five time Tony Award winner and West End hit A CHRISTMAS CAROL starring David Wenham is raising money for food relief charity Foodbank during its Australian premiere season at the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne, which runs until 29 December.

Foodbank Victoria is the largest and oldest food relief charity in the state. The Melbourne-based charity will be the recipient of bucket collections and online donations at the end of every performance throughout the show's run.

Australian producers, GWB Entertainment said: "Live theatre is a shared experienced and a unique exchange between the performing company and the audience. To celebrate this experience and the spirit of Christmas, audiences at every performance of A Christmas Carol will be encouraged to contribute what they can to assist Foodbank in doing the incredible work that they do."

Dave McNamara, CEO of Foodbank, said: "We've been feeding Victorians in need for more than 90 years. But the last few have forever changed the way we do things. Our organisation has never worked harder, faster or gone further to get food on the tables of vulnerable people.

"Even though we're currently feeding 100,000 people every two days through our charities, schools, mobile supermarket buses, and Farms to Families regional markets - it's still not enough. The cost of living crisis and now the floods have devastated entire communities in regional Victoria and we're working harder than ever to get food to those who are doing it tough. We're a community organisation, and we're always grateful when a community like the cast, crew and audiences involved with A Christmas Carol gets behind us to help out. We couldn't do what we do without them."

Find out more about Foodbank at foodbank.org.au

The Old Vic's West End smash hit production was conceived and directed by Matthew Warchus (director of Matilda the Musical) and playwright Jack Thorne (co-writer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), and the Australian production stars David Wenham as Ebenezer Scrooge, alongside an exceptional cast of sixteen performers including Bernard Curry and Debra Lawrance.

In the UK, The Old Vic and A Christmas Carol audiences have raised over £1 million for food poverty and deprivation-focused charities over the past five years.