A Christmas Carol - Play Guide

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The Play Guide for A Christmas Carol was created by:
Shari Wattling
Artistic Associate – New Play Development
Zachary Moull
Assistant Dramaturg
With additional material by Dom Saliani
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A Christmas Carol runs from November 26 to December 24, 2015
For tickets, visit theatrecalgary.com or call (403) 294-7447
Front cover photo by Trudie Lee
Table of Contents
THE BASICS
The Company ....................................................................01
Who’s Who? ...................................................................... 02
Setting and Story .............................................................. 03
EXPLORATIONS
The Gift of a Little Christmas Book ...................................... 05
Twenty-Two Years of Scrooge
An Interview with Actor Stephen Hair ....................... 08
Directing the Book
An Interview with Adaptor and Director
Dennis Garnhum ..................................................... 11
Dickens and the Theatre .................................................... 13
A World of Ice
An Interview with Designer Patrick Clark ................... 15
Glossary ........................................................................... 17
CONVERSATIONS
Conversation Starters ........................................................ 19
Carol Spirit ........................................................................ 21
‘Tis the Season Reads from Calgary Public Library ............... 22
Movie Night: A Christmas Carol .......................................... 24
Sources ............................................................................ 25
THE BASICS
-1-
The Company
Theatre Calgary presents
By Charles Dickens, adapted for the stage by Dennis Garnhum
Stephen Hair
Annabel Beames
Emma Duke
Adam Forward
Braden Griffiths
Paula Laroche Humby
Greer Hunt
Robert Graham Klein
Jamie Konchak
Fionn Laird
Aidan Laudersmith
Ryan Luhning
Allison Lynch
Declan O’Reilly
Julie Orton
Heather Pattengale
Graham Percy
Joe Perry
Zasha Rabie
Karl H. Sine
Elizabeth Stepkowski-Tarhan
Tenaj Williams
Siena Yee
Scrooge
Tiny Tim
Fan
Peter
Fred
Abigail
Belinda
Marley
Mrs. Cratchit
Boy Scrooge
Young Scrooge
Topper
Spirit of Christmas Past
Fezziwig
Mrs. Dilber
Belle
Spirit of Christmas Present
Spirit of Christmas Future
Martha
Bob Cratchit
Mrs. Fezziwig
Dick Wilkins
Hope
Dennis Garnhum
Simon Mallett
Patrick Clark
Kevin Lamotte
Jeremy Spencer
Angela Cavar
Chris Jacko
Shari Wattling
Haysam Kadri
Anita Miotti
Andrea St. Cyr, Monique St. Cyr
Jane MacFarlane
Director
Associate Director
Set & Costume Design
Lighting Design
Composer
Music & Vocal Director
Sound Design
Production Dramaturg
Fight Director
Choreographer
Skating Choreographers
Vocal Coach
THE BASICS
-2-
Who’s Who?
Scrooge and his Household
Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly man
Mrs. Dilber, Scrooge’s maid
The Laundress
Fred’s Family and Friends
Fred, Scrooge’s nephew
Abigail, Fred’s wife
Topper, Fred’s friend, who owes money to Scrooge
Other unnamed friends of Fred and Abigail
People from Scrooge’s Past
Fan, Scrooge’s sister
The Schoolmaster
Young Marley, Jacob Marley as a young man
Belle, Scrooge’s sweetheart
Mr. Fezziwig, a kind-hearted spirits merchant who employs Scrooge
Mrs. Fezziwig, his wife
Dick Wilkins, Scrooge’s fellow clerk at Fezziwig’s
The Cratchits
Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s clerk
Mrs. Cratchit, his wife
Their children: Peter, Martha, Belinda, and Tiny Tim
Townspeople
Carollers, solicitors, street vendors, businessmen, etc
Ghosts and Spirits
Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s late business partner
Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future
Ignorance and Want
THE BASICS
-3-
The Story
A Christmas Carol takes place in London, England, on Christmas Eve.
The
play
begins
with
a
memory – the funeral of Jacob
Marley, where
his
partner
Ebenezer Scrooge is the only
mourner.
On Christmas Eve of 1843,
seven years later, Scrooge is
working in his office with his
clerk
Bob
Cratchit.
Two
solicitors arrive asking for a
donation to help the poor and
Frontispiece and title page of the first
edition of A Christmas Carol, 1843
needy. Scrooge flatly refuses.
He also declines an invitation to celebrate the season with his nephew
Fred. He does reluctantly agree to let Cratchit spend Christmas Day with
his family, as long as he comes early the next day.
At home that evening, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley. The
ghost informs Scrooge that he will be visited by three spirits who will help
him to avoid the terrible fate that Marley is suffering – wandering the
earth bound by the “chains he forged in life.”
The first spirit to appear, the Spirit of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge on a
journey to see the places and people of his youth. Scrooge is reminded of
the deep affection he felt for his sister Fan, the late mother of Fred. He
visits his old employer Mr. Fezziwig and remembers the joy and
happiness that the Fezziwigs spread at Christmas time. He also sees his
former sweetheart, Belle, who broke up with him because of his singleminded pursuit of wealth.
THE BASICS
-4Next, the Spirit of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to see the celebrations
happening all around him. They first visit the Cratchit home, where
Scrooge learns that his clerk has a very sick son, Tiny Tim. Then Scrooge
sees Fred, his wife Abigail, and their friends skating on a frozen river. As
they play a guessing game, Scrooge learns what they really think of him.
The Spirit of Christmas Future completes Scrooge’s education, showing
him three businessmen callously discussing the recent death of an
unnamed associate. Then, Scrooge sees his servants selling the belongings
of someone who has recently died. Finally, Scrooge is transported to a
graveyard, where he watches the Cratchit family mourning the death of
Tiny Tim. The Spirit points to another tombstone. Scrooge approaches and
discovers the grave bears his own name. Scrooge begs for the Spirit’s pity,
and promises to keep the spirit of Christmas in his heart all the year.
Scrooge
wakes
up
in
his
bedroom on Christmas Day.
Full of joy, he has a turkey
delivered to the Cratchits for
their dinner, and when he sees
the family in the town square,
he gives Cratchit a raise and
tells him to take the next day
off as well. Then he meets the
two
solicitors
who
had
appeared in his office the
previous day and apologizes
for his behaviour by making a
sizable donation to their cause.
And lastly, finds his Fred
skating
on
the
river
"The Last of the Spirits" by John Leech,
from the first edition of A Christmas Carol
and
happily accepts his nephew’s earlier invitation to Christmas dinner.
EXPLORATIONS
-5-
The Gift of a Little Christmas Book
Charles Dickens was one of the first literary stars to stake out a role as a
public intellectual, seeking to shape Britain’s national conversation on
social issues through his writings and speeches. “I have a great faith in the
poor,”
he
once
wrote.
“I
always endeavour to present
them in a favourable light to
the rich.”
Born in 1812, Dickens grew up
in poverty himself. As a child,
he worked long hours in a
London boot-blacking factory
starting at the age of twelve,
when his father was sent to
debtor’s prison. He rose to
prominence as an author in the
late 1830s, with some of his
early
novels
Britain’s
looking
treatment
of
at
its
struggling underclass. Oliver
Twist
(1838),
for
example,
Charles Dickens
condemns the brutality of the Poor Law and its workhouses, where the
destitute were forced into prison-like conditions, and paints a sympathetic
picture of the poor and their children.
The autumn of 1843 was not a time of great cheer for Dickens. Already
demoralized by a visit to one of London’s poorest schools, he travelled to
Manchester in October to speak at a fundraiser for the Athenaeum, an
institution that provided education and recreation for the city’s enormous
working class. The Athenaeum was in financial trouble after the economic
recession of 1840–42, which had hit Manchester, a sprawling young city
driven by the new factories of the Industrial Revolution, particularly hard.
EXPLORATIONS
-6-
In the early 1840s, more than half of the children born in Manchester died
before the age of five, and thousands of unemployed workers relied on the
charity of soup kitchens every day. There was little room for Christmas in
the industrial city, where factories ran round-the-clock on Christmas Day.
But while walking the streets after his rousing speech, buoyed perhaps by
the “bright eyes and beaming faces” of the working poor who had
applauded his words, Dickens hit upon the idea for A Christmas Carol.
On his return to London, Dickens threw himself headlong into the new
project. He was so eager to finish the book in time for Christmas that he
postponed meetings for several weeks, sending his regrets to his lawyer,
for example, by explaining that
he was “in the middle of a
roaring
Christmas
Working
from
scene.”
morning
to
evening, Dickens kept up his
habit of walking the streets at
night for inspiration. In a letter
to a friend in Boston, he wrote
that while he “walked about
the black streets of London,
fifteen and twenty miles many
a night when all the sober
folks had gone to bed,” he had
“wept and laughed and wept
again, and excited himself in a
most extraordinary manner in
the composition” of what he
affectionately called “my little
Christmas book.”
The festive red and gold cover of the 1843
first edition of A Christmas Carol
When his publisher expressed
doubts about the book, Dickens put his own finances on the line by
proceeding with A Christmas Carol on a commission basis. Fortunately,
EXPLORATIONS
-7-
this allowed him to control the book’s design. He commissioned the artist
John Leech to make illustrations and woodcuts, chose a festive red and
gold cover, and set the price at a relatively affordable five shillings (a
novel would sell for around 30 shillings at the time).
Dickens’ hard work meant that A Christmas Carol was ready just in time
for Christmas. Six thousand copies were published on December 19, 1843
– and every single one had been sold by Christmas Day. Newspaper
reviews praised the book’s Yuletide message of generosity and goodwill,
as well as the power and economy of the tale. “Who can listen to
objections regarding such a book as this?” wrote William Makepeace
Thackeray, a fellow novelist and one of Dickens’ foremost rivals. “It seems
to me a national benefit, and to every man and woman who reads it, a
personal kindness.”
Indeed, the nation’s response to the book was almost universally warm,
with Dickens receiving scores of letters from readers who wanted to thank
him for brightening their holiday season. One letter, from a prominent
Scottish judge, told Dickens that he had “fostered more kindly feelings
and prompted more positive acts of beneficence” with his one small book
than had all the sermons and publications of the previous year’s
Christmas, combined. As for Dickens himself, he was so cheered that, at a
Christmas party soon after Carol’s publication, he spent a full hour
performing magic tricks for children – he reportedly made plum pudding
appear from a top hat – and then danced late into the night.
“If Christmas, with its ancient and hospitable customs,
its social and charitable observances, were ever in
danger of decay, this is the book that would give them
a new lease.”
– Thomas Hood
EXPLORATIONS
-8-
Twenty-Two Years of Scrooge
An Interview with Actor Stephen Hair
Calgary actor Stephen Hair has performed in Theatre Calgary’s holiday
production
of
A
Christmas
Carol since before the Arts
Commons building was even
built, and he’s been in all but
two productions out of 29
total. In 2015, he marks his
astonishing 22nd consecutive
year as Ebenezer Scrooge. The
interview below is from 2011.
How
do
you
feel
about
playing the same role for so
many years? Is there anything
specific that you do to keep
the role fresh for yourself and
your audiences?
I don’t think of it as the same
Stephen Hair as Ebenezer Scrooge in 2011
(photo by Trudie Lee)
role. I know that the name is the same, but things happen that are
different. Not only are there different actors, there are also different
versions of the play and different sets. I was 44 or 43 when I started
playing Scrooge and now I’m over 60. A lot has happened to me over
those years and so Scrooge changes as I change. As I learn more about life
and a little more about me, I try to put that kind of emotion or feeling into
Scrooge. And that’s what keeps it fresh. I don’t want to do the same thing.
I don’t want to do what I did last year or the year before. You start from
there in rehearsal. It’s like putting on a pair of cozy slippers – that’s where
you start, but there has to be something more. You’ll never find the true
core of a human being.
EXPLORATIONS
-9-
Can you expand upon how you see the character of Scrooge and what
you want the audiences to understand from him as a character?
Over the years, I find more and more that I want him to be a real human
being, not the stereotyped, miserly Scrooge that we are all so familiar
with. He is a human being who has gone through, as everybody does, a
lot of disappointments, a lot of changes. He’s come to a lot of forks in the
road and he has made some very wrong choices. He doesn’t see himself as
a bad person. He may be stingy with his money, a bit mean and a bit
cranky, but that comes from the life that he has led. So, what I want
people to see is that he is a real person who made bad life choices and
those lead him to where he is at the beginning of the play. But he can
change. That is the nature of the story and I think that’s why people keep
coming and seeing it – because it’s for all of us. It tells us that we can all
make bad choices, but you can actually change and go to the light.
What important messages do you think audiences get from the play?
I think a lot of it has to do with the time of year. There’s something about
Christmas that brings families together from wherever they are all over
the country. Everyone gets together and there’s just something about it,
some kind of a memory that we all have. It’s a time for reconciliation; it’s a
time for sharing with each other and having good times. They see that on
stage with Scrooge’s family. I think that everyone is actually pulling for
Scrooge. We know that he’s going to turn into a good guy in the end but
it’s all about watching the journey.
And I’ve had people come to me in tears saying that their lives have been
just like Scrooge’s and they see what can happen if they change their lives.
The most important message people get is: “I can change my life if I’ve
been a bad person. If I‘ve made bad choices, I can change it.” I think that’s
important. That’s what they tell me they get out of it.
Can you describe a typical Christmas Day in your home?
If you come to my house at Christmas, you won’t see any decorations and
you won’t see any Christmas-ey stuff. We start rehearsing A Christmas
EXPLORATIONS
- 10 -
Carol a month before the audience sees it, and by the time we get to
Christmas Day, to be honest, I’m just plain “Christmased out.” There’s a
lot of emotion that goes into this show and so on Christmas Day, I am
usually at home, usually by myself. If it’s nice out, I’ll sit out on my deck,
put my heater on, and maybe have a couple of drinks, but usually that’s
about all I do. And usually we’ve just come off seven shows in a row, so
I’m pretty exhausted. So to me, it’s a day off to just sit and relax. After
Christmas, I go down east to Ontario and visit my mom for a few days
and I have Christmas with her, but it’s the week after. She has a little tree
and all that stuff, but in my house there’s no Christmas for me and it helps
me to stay more Scroogey.
What is your Christmas wish for Theatre Calgary audiences?
Well, I wish them all the very, very best of the season. I wish them all the
love and all the joy that the season can possibly bring. I hope that the time
they spend with their families this Christmas, and that the joy that they
feel can be carried past the holiday and kept for as long as possible
throughout the year. Next year, if the Christmas feeling is a bit flagging,
come back and see A Christmas Carol and we’ll get the emotions roaring
for you again. I wish a happy time for all.
“We have come to take Scrooge so much for granted
that he seems practically a piece of Christmas folklore.”
– Edmund Wilson
EXPLORATIONS
- 11 -
Directing the Book
An Interview with Adaptor and Director Dennis Garnhum
Why did you decide to write your own adaptation of A Christmas Carol?
I thought long and hard about this production of A Christmas Carol – who
should adapt it and who
should direct it. It dawned on
me,
after
searching,
a
bit
that
of
given
soulmy
history with it, I have a lot of
knowledge that I could bring
forward.
The
way
I
think
about
adapting – because I’m a
director – is that I am directing
the book. That’s how I phrase
it. So I go back to the source –
which is not me, it’s Charles
Dickens – and I ask myself,
“how would I direct that
scene?” I always find that
there is great joy in adapting.
Dennis Garnhum
You can find a nugget of an
idea that’s in there and you think, “OK, we’re going to run with that.”
This production is my imagination running with ideas that Charles
Dickens inspired.
How is this version of A Christmas Carol different from previous
Theatre Calgary productions?
This Carol is different in many, many ways. It’s larger, if that’s possible!
Physically, it’s a big, BIG production. The adaptation is more truthful to
Dickens’ original story than before. There’s also singing – we sing around
twenty Christmas carols – and I’ve set the entire production in what I call
EXPLORATIONS
- 12 -
a “winter wonderland.” The whole set projects the idea that Scrooge is in
a frozen world – his bed has icicles falling off it and everything is covered
in snow. So it’s much more like a fantasy, similar to a ballet, or a
children’s story. Compared to previous productions, it is visually much
more colourful. The previous production, which was very important to
me, was more about poverty and bleakness. This one is much more about
children and joy. Given that I am a father now, I see things through those
eyes.
Now that you are a father, do you look forward to Christmas more than
you did before?
Absolutely! Every Christmas with a child is extraordinary. I mean, a child
gives you that gift for Christmas. I can’t wait. I really can’t wait.
Dennis Garnhum and the cast rehearsing on stage (photo by Shari Wattling)
EXPLORATIONS
- 13 -
Dickens and the Theatre
As a boy, Dickens’ first love was the theatre. Like many children, he
enjoyed play acting and together with his friends formed a small dramatic
company. The story is told that sometime in the 1830s he was to audition
at Covent Garden Theatre, but that he was prevented from doing so
because of an illness. Had he
attended that audition, who
knows
what
might
have
happened with his life and
career?
Dickens wrote about acting in
his novels; in Nicholas Nickleby,
for example, he lovingly tells
the tale of the Crummles’
travelling theatre troupe. And
"Dickens' Dream" by painter Robert
William Buss (1875)
while travelling across North
America in 1842, Dickens directed and performed in an amateur theatre
production while staying in Montreal.
A Christmas Carol was adapted for the stage almost immediately after
publication. Three productions opened in February, 1844, with one by
Edward Stirling sanctioned by Dickens. By the end of the month, eight
rival theatrical productions of A Christmas Carol were playing in London.
Stirling's production also played New York City's Park Theater during the
Christmas season of 1844 and was revived in London the same year. Since
then, A Christmas Carol has been seen in hundreds of stage productions
around the world – including seven different adaptations appearing at
Theatre Calgary over 29 years.
EXPLORATIONS
- 14 -
A World of Ice
An Interview with Designer Patrick Clark
Award-winning set and costume designer Patrick Clark hails from New
Brunswick. He has been involved with theatre and teaching his craft in
schools for the past thirty
years. His designs have graced
the stages of the Stratford
Festival, the Shaw Festival,
and countless other venues
across Canada. At Theatre
Calgary, he has most recently
designed the set and costumes
for Pride and Prejudice and
Anne of Green Gables. We talked
Patrick Clark
with Patrick just days after he
arrived in Calgary in 2011 to complete his work with the sets and
costumes for A Christmas Carol.
Can you tell us a bit about your designs for this production and what
we can expect?
The thing about this story is that there are many locations to represent, but
it all starts with what I call a basic set, or world that we created. When
Dennis Garnhum and I first talked about the play, he shared that he had
an image of this one scene where the actors are able to skate and I said
that is not just about snow – that’s ice. So out of that idea, and after much
discussion about ice and cold and Scrooge’s heart being thawed, we came
up with the basic imagery for the production. We created an ice world. It
is very abstract in that kind of sense. And within Scrooge’s world,
everything has been touched by the cold like the beds, the tables, the
chairs. The ice on the floor grows upwards into things.
From there, another idea or image I had is when the Spirit of Christmas
Past takes Scrooge on his first journey. I said, “Let’s really fly them.” So
EXPLORATIONS
- 15 -
we designed a little window and the window flies. As the window flies
up, the little village that Scrooge remembers from his childhood will move
across the stage, all lit up as it goes by. His school and the other buildings
are not life-size but rather smaller replicas of real buildings. So it will be
like seeing this tiny town from high up above. There’s also the Spirit of
Christmas Present who arrives in what I call a “steampunk jalopy.”
As for costumes, we are up to about 80 so far. Since this is a new
production and a completely new look, we pretty much had to start from
scratch. This is because of the colour spectrum – the stage is quite bright
and blue and icy and the costumes have to match that kind of striking
color. The effect will be almost like going to see the ballet – it’s that kind of
brightness.
What aspect of this project did you find the most fun to work on?
One of the best aspects of this production is working with Dennis because
he is very open to anything and he will push it further. He’s been great. It
can be a challenge with A Christmas Carol as everyone already knows what
the story is. However, because of Dennis’ new take and ideas, he has
allowed me to look at it with a fresh eye and yet respect the story. The set
is very modern in a way, and yet, within it, the old story is still there and
the people are dressed in a period way. It’s still Victorian and it still has
traditional elements that you will recognize. But it is the twenty-first
century, and we kind of changed it a little bit to give it a fresh life.
Where did you get the inspiration for your designs? Did you go back to
the source – Dickens?
Oh yes, you have to read the story again. As always, whenever you reread a story, you find something new and you suddenly hear a line and
you say “I never thought of that.”
And I also went back to the original John Leech engravings – the
illustrations in the original book. It’s fascinating to see that even in the
first engravings – for example in his drawings of Fezziwig – they are not
EXPLORATIONS
- 16 -
really “period” in any kind of way. Everything has a general “ye old good
old days” look because he wasn’t slavishly trying to be exact to the
clothing of the day. It’s nice because you can look at that and say, “If he
can do that, I can do that.” I can have a silhouette that’s fun but give it
some colour, give it some punch. I also wanted a kind of a modern take on
the overall look and we’ve tried to make this production quite kidfriendly. There’s lots of pyro. There are bright colours. It would be safe to
say that with this production, we’ve gone from a darker version of the
story to a brighter version. They’re both equally valid. They’re just
different interpretations.
How do you hope the sets and costumes will affect the audience?
Well first of all, I hope that they’re entertained. No matter what, that’s
always the prime consideration. We want them to feel the kind of
sentimentality and the humour that’s in Dickens. Also there is the
darkness that’s always in Dickens as well. He wrote dark stories.
However, they do have a happy ending 90 percent of the time, which is
why we love his work.
When the audience sees the sets, they’ll see that they’re not what one
would expect, but still within the realm of the story. For instance, they’ll
see these little villages and they’re perfect little reproductions of the
nineteenth century and yet they are within this blue void that’s almost like
the stars at times. I think the lighting is also very different in this show –
more theatrical, less literal. I hope audiences will come out of the theatre
saying, “Wow! That wasn’t like any A Christmas Carol I have ever seen.”
“Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in
the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.”
– Washington Irving
EXPLORATIONS
- 17 -
Glossary
The following information provides background, definitions, or explanations of
specific period references in the order in which they are mentioned in the play.
Christmas Carols
Carols are traditionally associated with Christmas. By definition, however,
a carol is a song of joy and praise, often with a religious theme or lesson.
The Christmas tradition of caroling, or going door to door and singing for
the occupants, was established during the Middle Ages. Many of the
carols that are popular today were written in the 1800s.
Wassail
The first carol sung by the play’s carollers includes the line: “Here we
come a-wassailing.” Wassail is a drink consisting of ale or wine sweetened
with sugar and spices. The word derives from the Norse ves heill, which
means “be of good health.” Wassailing comes from the old English
tradition of visiting houses with a wassail bowl and singing songs that
wished good fortune upon the household.
Money words
“Bob” is slang for a shilling. In the British currency system at the time,
there are 12 pence to a shilling, and 20 shillings to a pound. A pound can
also be called a “quid.” Bob Cratchit earns 15 shillings a week. This is
considerably less than the average salary for a clerk at the time, which was
around 25 shillings a week.
Bedlam
At the beginning of the play, Scrooge states that Bob Cratchit should be
sent to “Bedlam.” In London at the time, there was an insane asylum at
the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem. “Bedlam” was a commonly used
contraction for Bethlehem and this hospital. As a result, the word
“bedlam” has entered our vocabulary and refers to a state of utter
confusion and chaos.
EXPLORATIONS
- 18 -
Workhouses and the Poor Law
Scrooge suggests to the Solicitors that a solution for the misery of poor
people is to send them to prison or the workhouses. During Dickens’ time,
the British Poor Law forced poor people to enter a workhouse, where they
would be provided with food and shelter as payment for menial work. To
discourage people from taking advantage of the workhouses, the
authorities ensured conditions were terribly unpleasant.
Robinson Crusoe
When Scrooge is shown his past as a young boy, he recalls reading about
Robinson Crusoe. Robinson Crusoe was the title character of a 1719 novel
by Daniel Defoe, chronicling the adventures of a castaway marooned on
an island for 28 years. In one section of the book, Crusoe and his
companion Friday fight with cannibals.
Ignorance and Want
Just before the Spirit of Christmas Present departs, he shows Scrooge two
miserable children and calls
them Ignorance and Want. This
scene
emphasizes
Dickens’
deep concern for the plight of
the hundreds of thousands of
English
children
living
in
poverty. Dickens believed that
the only way to break the cycle
of poverty was education. The
Spirit warns Scrooge that "This
boy is Ignorance. This girl is
Want. Beware them both, and
all of their degree, but most of
all beware this boy, for on his
brow I see that written which is
"Ignorance and Want" by John Leech,
from the first edition of A Christmas Carol
Doom, unless the writing be erased." Very little schooling was available
for poor children in Dickens’ day, and there was no public education
system in England until 1870 – almost thirty years after A Christmas Carol.
CONVERSATIONS
- 19 -
Conversation Starters
Big Questions

Can bad people change for the better?

What is happiness and how do we measure success?

What causes people to isolate themselves from family and friends?

What is the Christmas spirit?
Theme

What does the word “carol” mean? Why do you think Charles Dickens
called his work A Christmas Carol?

Dickens was very concerned about social justice, and he wrote A Christmas
Carol in part to protest his society’s treatment of the poor. Based on A
Christmas Carol, what do you think were Dickens’ main concerns? Do we
face similar problems in our own society today? What solutions does the
play suggest?
Story

At its core, A Christmas Carol is a story about a bad man who sees the error
of his ways and becomes a good man. What are some other stories that
follow this basic plot? Why is this storyline so common?

The first two scenes of A Christmas Carol contain a great deal of exposition
– background information provided through flashbacks and dialogue.
What important pieces of information are revealed in these early scenes?
How do they help us to better understand what happens later in the play?

The ending of A Christmas Carol makes a serious statement. To what extent
is the ending realistic? In other words, do people in real life change as
dramatically as Scrooge does in the play? If so, what are some examples?
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Character

According to Shakespeare, “Action is eloquence.” This suggests that
actions – what a person does – often speak louder than words. Were there
moments in A Christmas Carol where what a character did on stage
revealed more about them than what he or she said?

Writers often use contrast to reveal more about their characters. Which
characters in A Christmas Carol serve as foils or contrasts for Scrooge?
What do these contrasts reveal about the man himself?
Design and Staging

This play is a challenge for the set designer, since the scenes are set in
several different locations. How did the set design contribute to the flow
of the play from scene to scene?

Which design choices (set, costumes, props, lighting) helped you
understand the specific setting or location of a scene? Which choices
created a particular mood or atmosphere for the scene?

What strategies did the production use to put the ghosts and spirits of A
Christmas Carol on stage? Which of the apparitions do you think was most
effectively presented? Why?
“Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.”
– Charles Schultz
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Carol Spirit
After his visits from the Spirits of Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge pledges to
“honour Christmas in his heart and try to keep it all the year.” This is no
small task! We asked the artists of A Christmas Carol and Theatre Calgary
staff members to share how they try to keep Christmas year-round:
Stephen Hair (Ebenezer Scrooge)
I try to remember the remarkable joy of performing before our audiences,
and the happiness felt by so many in the theatre.
Allison Lynch (Spirit of Christmas Past)
I sing everywhere. Walking down the street, in public washrooms, in the
grocery store. Music makes people smile in spite of themselves.
Ron Siegmund (Wardrobe Master and Hair & Wig Stylist)
I smile. When I’m having a bad day, I smile and eventually I can forget
about it. And when you smile at someone, they smile too. It's a drop that
makes ripples out into the world.
Shari Wattling (Artistic Associate)
I sincerely believe that by offering a helping hand, a gesture of courtesy,
or even just a smile on a daily basis, that I can make a difference in
someone’s day. And hopefully, they will make a difference in someone
else’s in turn.
Susan McNair Reid (Company Manager)
I say yes to charity donations when I’m buying something in a store: the
food bank campaign at Sobeys, the book fund for kids at Indigo, the
school supply drive at Staples. None of these things costs me more than a
fancy coffee, but as we learn from Mr. Fezziwig, even a little bit can make
a big difference to someone.
How do you honour the spirit of Christmas all the year? Tweet
us @theatrecalgary with #tcCarol to let us know. We’ll be sure
to pass your advice along to Mr. Scrooge!
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‘Tis the Season Reads from Calgary Public Library
By Rosemary Griebel
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss
Fiction, 1985. There is more than one curmudgeon in the stable of
Christmas classics, and just as no Christmas season would be
complete without the miserly Scrooge, every heartwarming
festivity requires at least one encounter of the bookish kind with
the ultimate seasonal sourpuss, the mean, green Grinch.
Mrs. Scrooge: A Christmas Poem, by Carol Ann Duffy,
illustrated by Posy Simmonds
Poetry, 2009. Britain's first female poet laureate presents a
beautifully illustrated tale featuring a witty update of A Christmas
Carol, which casts Scrooge’s parsimonious widow as an
environmental activist. With her cat, Catchit, she discovers what
the “Christmas Spirit” really means.
Christmas: A Candid History, by Bruce David Forbes
Non-fiction, 2007. Written for everyone who loves and is
simultaneously driven crazy by the holiday season, Christmas: A
Candid History provides an entertaining perspective on how the
annual Yuletide celebration evolved. This enlightening historical
tour explores the story of Christmas from its pre-Christian roots to
its mind-boggling transformation into a buying frenzy, and offers
some provocative ideas for reclaiming the joy of the season.
Click on the book covers
to check availability at
Calgary Public Library!
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Happiness: A Philosopher’s Guide, by Frédéric Lenoir,
translated by Andrew Brown
Non-fiction, 2015. From Aristotle to Buddha to the essays of
Michel de Montaigne and modern neuroscience, this book
explores how happiness can be attainable even in the most cynical
and mean- spirited lives. A brief but well-considered guide to a
wide range of the many schools of thought regarding contentment,
joy, and happiness.
Don't Get Scrooged, by Richard Carlson
Non-fiction, 2006. Don't Get Scrooged is the perfect handbook on
how to avoid, appease, and even win over the Scrooges who haunt
your holidays. Whether it's the salesclerk who ignores you in
favour of her cell phone, the customer who jumps ahead of you in
line at Starbucks, the unnaturally irritable boss, or the in-laws who
invite themselves (every year) for a two-week stay at your house,
here are the skills to deal with Scrooges, grumps, uninvited guests,
sticks-in-the-mud, and supreme party poopers.
You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas, by Augusten
Burroughs
Memoir, 2009. Once the kids are in bed, put a shot of Baileys in
that hot chocolate and curl up with this funny, nostalgic collection
of holiday stories that demonstrate how the holidays bring out the
worst in us and sometimes, just sometimes, the very, very best.
Inventing Scrooge: The Incredible True Story behind Charles
Dickens’ Legendary A Christmas Carol, by Carlo DeVito
Non-fiction, 2014. From a graveyard in Edinburgh to Dickens’
schoolboy years in Chatham, this engaging history reveals the
real-life inspirations that contributed to the creation of one of the
world’s most beloved tales.
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Movie Night: A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has sparked hundreds of adaptations
in every medium imaginable. Here are some notable film versions:
A Christmas Carol
Feature film, 1938. Hollywood’s first talkie version of the story stars
Reginald Owen as Scrooge.
A Christmas Carol
Feature film, 1951. The classic British version (known as Scrooge in the
U.K.) stars Alistair Sims as Scrooge.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol
Animated short, 1983. Scrooge McDuck plays his namesake, with Mickey
Mouse as Bob Cratchit.
Scrooged
Feature film, 1988. In this loose adaptation, Bill Murray plays a Scroogelike TV executive. While he produces a special broadcast of A Christmas
Carol, events from Dickens’ story start to occur in his own life.
Blackadder’s Christmas Carol
TV special, 1988. This special episode of the British comedy series
parodies Dickens by reversing the story of A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer
Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson), the nicest man in Victorian London,
becomes vengeful and greedy after a visit from a Christmas Spirit.
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Feature film, 1992. This surprisingly faithful adaptation features a mix of
human actors and Muppets. Michael Caine stars as Scrooge opposite
Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit.
.
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Sources
Print Sources
Michael Patrick Hearn, ed, The Annotated Christmas Carol, W. W. Norton,
1976.
Les Standiford, The Man Who Invented Christmas, Crown, 2008.
Claire Tomalin, Charles Dickens: A Life, Viking, 2011.
Web Sources
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Project Gutenberg.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm
“The Workhouse.” http://www.workhouses.org.uk/