Charles Dickens would have woven a whole cast of characters about him - the lowly stoker outside the Gate Theatre who doesn't want to give his name. Once he gets the brazier blazing, Ken Hartnett disappears into the night, the chill wind whipping round the corner as he goes. Des Gallen and Michelle Forrest, in Victorian dress, stay to roast a bucket of chestnuts, greeting those who arrive for the opening night of A Christmas Carol.
Actor John Kavanagh is one of the first in with his wife, Anne. Having left his overcoat behind, he rubs his hands together, "perished" with the cold.
Sorcha O'Higgins (9) is here with her family to see her cousin, Eddie Tighe, play the young Scrooge. Phil Sharpe, with a dramatic shock of red curls, is here with life-long friend Josie Colgan - the theatre director's mother, she declares proudly. The two women went to school together to the Sisters of Mercy. "That's a long time ago," they say, looking at each other fondly. Michael Colgan's daughters, Sarah and Sophie, are here also with their friend, Francesca Bourke, who wants to be an actor when she's older.
Sam Irons, eldest son of Sinead Cusack and Jeremy Irons, is here, but he's not sure if he'll be an actor like his parents - he's studying English literature at Trinity at the moment. Someone who does have her heart set on the stage is Lara Dungan, daughter of broadcaster Myles Dungan, who has dashed in from RTE and Five Seven Live to accompany her. His boss, Joe Mulholland, arrives just before curtain up - "I don't want to talk about job cuts tonight," he says. What? Did we just hear him say "Bah, humbug"?
Actors Jane Brennan and Daphne Carroll are both here to see another member of the Brennan acting dynasty, Eva Bartley, 20 yesterday, make her debut in A Christmas Carol.
The man who adapted the Dickens work for stage, John Mortimer, is here with his wife, Penelope. Now 77, he's working on a book on being old, to be called The Summer of A Dormouse. He's still confused with his most famous creation, Rumpole of the Bailey - in Australia they salute him with a cheery "G' day, Rumpole!"
Will children be scared by the play? "They like being scared," he says, smiling wickedly, imagining how the ghost of Marley is going to terrify the audience.