A Christmas Carol

This is the opening scene of Act One, in which Scrooge and his nephew discuss Christmas. Scrooge is a mean and wealthy businessman with no family of his own. The play is set in London during Victorian times, when poverty was widespread.

Cast of Characters

Narrator Scrooge (a grumpy old man) Nephew (a cheerful young man) NARRATOR: Once upon a time, upon a Christmas Eve, old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. NEPHEW: A Merry Christmas, uncle! NARRATOR: It was the voice of Scrooge’s nephew. SCROOGE: Bah!…Humbug! NEPHEW: Christmas a humbug, uncle! You don’t mean that, I am sure? SCROOGE: I do. Out upon merry Christmas! If I had my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding. He should! NEPHEW: Uncle! SCROOGE: Nephew, keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine. NEPHEW: Keep it! But you don’t keep it. SCROOGE: Let me leave it alone, then. Much good may it do you! Much good it has ever done you! NEPHEW: I have always thought of Christmas time as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time. And therefore uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it! SCROOGE: Good afternoon. NEPHEW: I’ll keep my Christmas humour to the last. So a Merry Christmas, uncle! ©The Educational Company of Ireland

WRITING

Create a comic strip version of this short scene from A Christmas Carol. A comic strip uses a variety of ways of communicating a story: a caption in which the narrator tells the story speech bubbles containing the dialogue thought bubbles showing the thoughts of the characters images or drawings depicting the action of the story. Writing Tips Use the comic strip panels in your activity book (see page 97) to help you. In each box, summarise the action of the story in the captions. Think about how you might draw the action of each panel. Decide what your characters should say to each other in each panel and put their words into speech bubbles. Consider what the characters might be thinking and put their thoughts into thought bubbles. ACT IVITY PERFORMING Create a performance of this short extract from A Christmas Carol. Divide up into groups of four, with three people as actors and one person in the role of director. The director’s job is to plan out how to play the scene. They should consider staging, costume and props. The actors’ job is to portray their characters on the stage. They should think about their voice, their accent, their gestures and their movement across the stage. Use the graphic organiser in your activity book (see page 98) to plan out how you would direct the scene or act your part. ACT IVITY ©The Educational Company of Ireland